Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust!
by WhatisDoneLEtItbe
Summary: Elena's adopted sister Kyra is just along for the ride when it comes to her sister's love life, or at least, that's what she thought until everything around her turns out to be something supernatural. Think she can handle it in the long run? Not to mention dealing with broody vamps 1& 2 without coffee is definitely a no go. ElijahXOCXDamon who gets the girl? T for language
1. Prologue

**Quick AN: I went over some of the chapters and attempted to add a little more to it so this is an update. If there's anything you guys see that needs to be fixed, let me know! I'd love to hear how you like it or don't like it. Anything you want to see more of or less of, just hit that review button!**

Prologue

 _Don't let me go – The Fray_

"She doesn't remember anything?" Miranda Gilbert asked the sheriff concerned. Standing on her white porch in front of the doorway, she looked at the little girl with long light brown hair covering her little heart shaped face and teary green eyes. The child chewed her thumbnail nervously while she hid behind the nice lady that found her wandering scared down the road. Miranda's heart broke at the sight. "Are you sure?"

"She doesn't even remember her name Miranda. We aren't sure what happened to her, but there was blood everywhere," Sheriff Forbes explained, her tone resonated her own despair for the little girl next to her. "We found her mother's body in her house fifteen miles away. I don't want to see her in the system… Miranda… I know it's a lot to ask, but Elena is her age, maybe it would help her?" she almost pleaded, desperate to get the girl into a good home.

Miranda nodded in agreement. The girl almost looked like her daughter too. "Hey there," she started in a soothing voice, "would you like to come in for some ice cream?" the little girl heard ice cream and she became a little less nervous. Hesitantly she looked up to the nice lady again, almost as if asking if this was safe. Sheriff Forbes gave her an assuring smile, letting her know it was okay to go in. That gave the little girl enough confidence to patter forward across the barrier of the door into her new home. Miranda couldn't help but smile at her. "We'll keep you safe, I promise."

"Thank you Miranda. I would take her myself but with everything going on at home," the Sheriff apologized.

"Nonsense Liz, you know we've always wanted a big family. There's enough room for us and plenty of care to go around for her to feel safe and loved," Miranda waved her off. "I'll gladly take her. We'll get the paper work together as soon as possible. She doesn't deserve any less."

"I'll go with Liz to the girl's house and pick up some of her things Miranda, stay with her and get her settled," Grayson offered to his wife. He stood behind her, a hand on her should to signal he supported her decision fully. "Let's go see what we're dealing with," he nodded to the door.

"My name's Elena, what's yours?" a quiet voice asked tentatively from the kitchen. The little brunette peaked around the kitchen island, curious to what had been going on at the front door. Elena liked making new friends, so she hoped to start this new one off right.

"I-I'm… not sure," the little girl responded, trying her hardest to remember. At this revelation Elena, in all of her childhood innocence, rushes forward and gives her new found friend a hug.

"That's okay, that just means we have to find you a super cool name then huh?" she grinned happily to comfort her knew friend. The dumbfounded look in her green eyes didn't dissuade her.

"Do you remember that Elena?" I whispered from the side of my sister's hospital bed, machines beeping the only comfort I had. "The first time we met, and you already knew what to say to make me feel better. I can't lose you too Elena. Please-"I broke out a sob, the endless tears running down my face. "Please don't leave me Elena. I can't do this without you," I kept pleading to her, wanting her to wake up. "Who- who's going to help Caroline decorate for all of the founder's events? Who's gonna help me practice singing in front of people? Who-" I couldn't help the crack in my voice as I kept pleading for my sister to come back to me. I squeezed her hand in desperation before continuing. "Who's bed am I gonna crawl into when I get a bad nightmare? I can't do this without you Elena. And Jer, please don't do this to him too," I tried more. I felt her hand start to move beneath mine, barely squeezing back. "E-Elena?!"

My sister began to stir in that moment, and her eyes began to flitter in confusion. "Kyra?" her voice croaked from being asleep for what seemed like a lifetime. "Kyra," she tried again.

My tears of sadness transformed into tears of relief. "Lana, I'm so glad you're okay." I couldn't say anything more, I could only cry in relief, sobbing the whole ordeal out into the universe. Aunt Jenna and Jeremy rushed into the room while I held onto Elena's hand like it held me to the Earth.

"Aunt Jenna?" Elena found her voice again. "Jeremy? Ky, what's going on? Where's mom and dad?" Elena asked with a renewed energy in her voice.

"Elena, they're… they're gone sweetie," Jenna whispered, tears cascading down her face. "You guys were in an accident a few days ago. The car… it went over the bridge. You're the only one that made it," Jenna tried to hold it together.

I grabbed her hand back into mine, holding it tightly, hoping to hold her eyes in mine for a moment. "We can get through this Lana. Together," I squeeze her hand in mine before trying to reassure her more. She wiped a tear away before nodding to me. As long as we were together, we could get through anything.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 _Brave- Sara Bareilles_

 _Dear Diary,_

 _When mom and dad died, I thought nothing else could happen. I had hoped nothing else would happen. Boy was I wrong. Elena and I are sticking together, more now than ever, there's just one little thing. Her boyfriend Stefan, yea he's a vampire. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, there are so many things that keep happening, and all of these bodies piling up, not all but most courtesy of Stefan's psychotic brother Damon. Everything is just so hectic, what am I even supposed to do? I wish mom and dad were here, even if they didn't know what to do, they were like the superhero's that kept us safe and warm. Nothing has been the same and it's hard to get back to 'normal'. Before I get too depressed, I better carry on to the rest of this week._

 _Stefan told Elena he's leaving, and I feel mixed about it. She loves him, I can tell, and I don't want her to feel sad when honestly he isn't a bad guy… he's just… you know… a vampire. I guess he eats bunnies instead of people, those poor bunnies. Still better than Aunt Jenna's scumbag of an ex Logan Fell. I swear that guy can't take a hint. He even tried to get her to invite him in tonight can you believe that? Good thing he isn't a vampire, at least I'm pretty sure he isn't…_

 _I'm worried about Jeremy the most though. Losing our parents hit him pretty hard, and it's just been so hard to reach him. Then his drug addict sort of girlfriend got turned into a vampire, tried to kill him and Elena and she got staked. His whole world just shattered all over again. I don't condone what Elena had Damon do, compelling him to forget, but I can't help but hope it turns out for the better._

 _This week has just killed me with trying to sleep. My nightmares have gotten darker (and that's saying something), and more often than not, I end up sleeping in the same bed as Elena. I hope she isn't sick of me yet. The monsters in my dreams have, temporarily I hope, changed into vampires. I think she's worried that I'm afraid of Stefan, and that'd put a damper on any future relationship with him. It's not him per say, but the new info is just still settling in I guess. At least vampires you know what they're after most of the time._

 _Oh I almost forgot! Bonnie is a witch! She isn't really excited about it, but I think once she gets into it, she'll feel more comfortable. Her ancestors possessing her probably put a damper on that one though. Supernatural stuff keeps popping up everywhere. What's next, werewolves and elves?_

 _Anywho, signing off to hopefully sleep!_

 _-Kyra Gilbert_

I could feel the sun filter through the curtains into my face, waking me up much sooner than I would have liked. I carefully rolled out of the bed, taking care not to wake my sleeping sister _._ These nightmares are just ridiculous this week. Everything has fangs and is trying to kill me. I suppose that's better than the usual ones, in the sense that they're different and not the same old nightmares like usual anyway. Gotta mix it up sometimes I guess. I saw Elena shift as I began to shuffle down the stairs lightly holding onto the banister. I needed to get a full cup of my personal liquid life-giver, coffee. Upon entering the kitchen, I had to do a double take and rub the sleep out of my eyes. Jeremy sat at the counter, sketching. He hadn't touched his sketch book since our parents died. Thinking with more brain cells than I actually had functioning, I decided not to tease him out of fear he'd put it away again. I simply tripped my way toward the coffee pot.

"You're up early," Jer commented with a smirk at my normal, anti-social, morning self.

"Your face is up early," I grumbled out with a grumpy huff, kitten pajama bottoms dragging across the wooden floor. I attempted to grab the coffee pot, but ended up missing for a second while I stood there trying to figure out what I was doing again.

Jeremy looked up from his sketch pad amused, watching me suffer for a moment longer, "Isn't it your rule you can't make coffee unless you've had your coffee? Here, I'll do it," he laughed with his offer, leading me back to the stool where I proceeded to let my head 'thunk' onto the counter tiredly. My little brother needed to apply for sainthood. "Rough night?" he asked thoughtfully, preparing the god's nectar for greedy consumption.

"Nightmares," my muffled reply came from under my long wavy light brown hair. The bed head game was strong that morning. Jeremy knew all about the nightmares. His room was close enough to mine that he's had to wake me up on occasion. He patted my back sympathetically before returning to his drawings. Finally after getting my cup of coffee and the feeling of being human again, Elena walked into the kitchen. Her gaze landed on Jeremy and her eyebrows shot up. I mouthed an incredulous 'I know right?!' before returning to my coffee.

"How are you feeling Kyra?" Elena asked cautiously, not just asking about my nightmares. How I felt about her feelings for the vampire dude meant a lot to her.

"Better, and less judgey after coffee and a night full of sister snuggles," I smiled happily, downing my third cup. You can't help how you feel, plus she deserved to be happy. She perked up after that. Not too long after, Jeremy retreated to his room before school, and Jenna took his place. She wass still pretty twitchy after last night with Logan 'Scum' Fell. I can't believe he tried so hard to get her to invite him in… wait… he couldn't be a… nah, she's known him for a long time. She deserved so much better than that sleaze ball. Getting up to go get dressed for the day, I told her with a grin, "Jer's sketching again."

"Whatever you do, don't encourage him or else he'll never pick it up again," Elena added in at the shocked look on our aunt's face. Elena had grabbed her own cup of coffee, needing the boost to get through school.

"Psychology major here, remember?" Jenna joked back while she got her things together for her college classes.

It didn't take long to get everything together and head out the door. Pants? Check. Hair Brushed? Check. Books for class and possible pillows? Double check. I couldn't help but zone out and just take in as much sun as possible. Next to coffee, the sun came to a close second as an energizer. I always felt perkier when it was bright out. I'm sure that's how most people felt though. Elena and Jenna talked about guys in the front seat, while I lounged happy as a cat in the back.

"So when are you going to get a boyfriend Ky?" Jenna asked me suddenly, bringing me back to the conversation. "Then we'd get to give _you_ dating advice instead."

"I did have a boyfriend, uh… Kyle something?" I muttered trying to recall. It had been a while, and if you considered one phone call and a sorta date to the movies, sure, he was my boyfriend…

"Scott, and that was two years ago Ky. I'm sure someone will catch your eye eventually," Elena smiled, taking the heat off me from Jenna. Without further ado, we made it to school on time. Bonnie met us at our lockers that stood next to each other, what with the same last names and all. She seemed to be pretty calm for some one that almost died the night before.

Walking down the hall Elena spotted Matt and Caroline talking and… flirting. Wow, didn't see that one coming. I felt bad keeping everything from her. This time I whole heartedly agreed with Elena, keeping this whole supernatural world from her was best. Especially after, in short, Caroline had gotten into an abusive relationship with Damon. Truthfully I felt conflicted about it. Caroline's personality wouldn't be able to deal with the news so well, but at the same time, wouldn't knowing what to look out for help keep her safe too?

"When did that happen?" I raised a brow. However, Matt was still my sister's ex. "Not that it matters sis, you don't have feelings for him anymore," I gently reminded.

"They just started hanging out," Bonnie explained, then added, "I think it's good for her. Much better than Damon," she made a look of disgust at the last part.

"I'm pretty sure Fidel Castro would be better than him at this point," I muttered in distaste. "Speaking of, how are you feeling Bonnie?" I asked. The fiasco last night probably gave her nightmares. She destroyed a necklace Damon needed. Which, to be fair it was a necklace that was supposed to get his vampire lady friend out of a tomb that has been sealed for a hundred years or so, but he went too far when he almost killed Bonnie.

"I'm freaked out," she paused, letting it sink in. "I could be dead right now," she stated, an idea that seemed to shock her to her core. I watched Elena's guilt grow in her eyes, but stayed quiet. "But, I'm also grateful. Stefan saved my life. How is everything with him anyway?" Bonnie pushed for details like the friend she is, or she just wanted to get conversation away from the ordeal.

"I haven't seen him since he told me he's leaving," she tried to sound okay with it. She couldn't play that game with me. I knew her better than that. This hurt her more than she let on.

"Something will come up, and he'll probably end up staying," I told her cheerfully. She just rolled her eyes at me while we continued. I tended to be more optimistic on sunny days.

Bonnie smiled at me and my upbeat attitude. "I thought I was the psychic? Well, you know he won't leave without saying goodbye at least," Bonnie pitched in.

"I doubt it. He's doing it to 'protect me'," she rolled her eyes at the thought, pulling her books closer to her while we dodged other classmates in the typical high school hallway. "I already begged him to stay. I'll be selfish if I do it again."

"Maybe it's for the best," Bonnie said carefully. While she was okay with Stefan, the fact he's a vampire didn't help. It was in the friend code to let your friends get that solid dose of truth once in a while. Personally I think this came more from the fact she was almost eaten by a vampire, but eh. "I mean what kind of future could you have with him if he stayed?"

"Adoption, surrogacy, interesting stories to tell the kids… we're in the age of technology, duh," I rattled off in attempt to make her feel better. Fate decided it'd be funny to drop the banner that read, 'The Promise of Our Future!' right in front of us.

"Did you just," Elena's brows furrowed in revulsion, motioning to the banner. Bonnie shook her head no in an 'I didn't do it way'. Elena had stormed off ahead of us, her straight hair swishing behind her. I could only giggle at this point. Coffee, sunshine, and fresh air, this was going to be a great day after a horrible few weeks I thought.

Lunch period rolled around, and my good mood never failed. Who knew I'd like the new history teach Mr. Saltzman's teaching strategies? He had a weird vibe to him, but overall he seemed like a pretty cool guy. Occasionally in the hallway between classes I'd see Caroline walking with Matt. At one point I had caught her eye and she seemed worried. I merely smiled back to her and waved, letting her know all was okay. Finally the last bell rang at the end of class. I caught up with Elena briefly before we made it outside.

Elena spotted Stefan across the grass next to the parking lot, so I decided to give them privacy. Looking around, I noticed Caroline looking at something in her hand intently and walking in its direction. What on Earth was she doing? Sneakily, I followed her off school grounds until she wound up at the back of an old storage warehouse. I stood to the side trying to figure out what she wanted there when one of the few people that could ruin my day showed up. Damon Fuckface Salvatore.

Cursing worse than a sailor, I watched him compel her to leave, then pounced. "Stay away from Caroline, Damon," I warned feeling myself get heated at the thought of him still using her.

"Where the hell did you come from?" He jumped back momentarily. Good, I might not be able to kill him, but I could make him miserable. I'm kinda stoked that I got the jump on a vampire.

"I followed her here, jackass. What did you need her for?" I grilled him with questions. He needed to keep Caroline out of all of this. He already tried to kill one friend, and he wasn't going to keep tormenting Caroline if I had anything to say about it.

"What's your name again, Kara?" Damon stared at me for a moment, obviously trying to egg me on. Such an asshole.

"Kyra Gilbert, Elena's sister," I glared at him, annoyed by his very presence.

"Yeah, whatever. Listen, adult working here, I'm going to need you to go," He tried to wave me off. He seemed distracted, looking around the back of the warehouse. With his leather jacket and black shirt, police officers would have a field day stereo typing him.

"No, you listen here. You don't play games with my friends or try to kill them because shit doesn't go your way, understand?" I didn't know where this courage came from, but by my guess, it was rage fueled. His eyes narrowed on me before he used his vampire speed to get closer to me.

"I'm going to try this again, _Kyra_ ," his pupils changed shape with his words. "You're going to leave, forget you came here, and forget you saw me with Caroline."

"Ha! Fat chance Damon," I laughed at him. This jerk tried to compel me! Stefan told me all about that trick when we first found out and had a bunch of questions.

He looked at me suspiciously for a moment, confused that it didn't work. "Are you on vervain?"

"No?" I answered back, slightly puzzled. Wait… why wasn't I being compelled? "Whatever, anyway I just want you to leave Caroline out of it from now on. If you need something, come to me." I continued on. We'd just have to figure it all out later. Vervain was that flower thing that could hurt vampires. There was too much going on to dwell on trivial stuff.

"Oh really?" he asked in a suggestive tone. I rolled my eyes, repulsed at his indicated hint. "Well, good to know, you should get out of here anyway," he tried again, pushing his way around me toward the warehouse door. "I'm in the middle of tracking a murderous vampire, and I'd rather not have Stefan kill me over his girlfriend's sister getting hurt in the cross fire."

"So… you're tracking… yourself?" I sassed, hand on my chin for the deduction. He deserved every bit of my sarcasm.

"Ha! Aren't you cute? No, now scram," He went around me, getting to the back door of the warehouse. This time I didn't stop him, I just let him get his breaking and entering done while I stood by outside, just in case. Not that I could do a whole lot to stop him, but he's still Stefan's brother, and they had unresolved issues to work out before either one of them bit the dust. I stood outside contemplating my life choices when I heard the gunshots come from inside. This made me to spring into action.

I snuck my way through some racks holding palates and other odds and ends. Getting close enough, I listened to Logan Fell go back and forth with Damon. That son of a bitch _is_ a vampire! Lucky us Jenna never let him in. I stayed silent enough to hear about all of the journals holding information about vampires, the Founders council, how Fell wanted to be with Aunt Jenna *gag*, and then things got heated again. I didn't registered what was happening when Logan pointed the gun at Damon again and shot him some more. I flinched, but waited until he left before rushing out to the first psycho.

"You should leave he says, Stefan could kill me he says," I mocked, kneeling next to him. I surveyed the damage. "Wooden bullets right?" Damon only answered me in groans. Looked like it missed his heart, but for my own sanity, I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. Without hesitating, I dug my finger in his wounds to pop them out. Interesting design overall, but without the impact of a metal bullet, these would never be able to get very far into anyone, let alone a vampire. Not to mention the shitty accuracy that came with the wind resistance ratio to the force of the bullet getting pushed out with the explosion of the gun powder. Don't ask why I knew that.

I pulled out my phone to warn Elena while I finished pulling out the bullets so Damon could recover. I dialed her number, trying not to get blood on my phone. It didn't finish ringing when she answered, not even giving me a hello.

"Kyra where are you? I haven't seen you since school?" She immediately questioned.

"I'm with Damon, but that's not important. If Logan Fell shows up, keep Aunt Jenna away from him," I explained, looking for something to wipe the blood off my hands.

"What's going on?" Elena asked at the sound of my tone. Good, she knew this wasn't just about keeping Jenna from making a mistake.

"Logan is a vampire, and tell Stefan he has a gun with wooden bullets. He needs to be careful. I'm on my way now," I hastily replied, getting a hold of a dirty rag. "Listen I got to go, Damon's still recovering, see you soon."

"I'm gonna kill him," Damon grunted, rolling over to bring himself to stand.

"Good, the sooner, the better. Let's go get you cleaned up so you can do that," I put an arm around his shoulder and lifted. He didn't answer with his typical sarcasm, so he must have been pissed. Having him hobble along the back ways, we made it to his house in no time.

"Thanks Surgeon Barbie," Damon grunted once I got him to his room. "I suggest you leave before I make a meal out of you," he warned me, trying not to groan while sitting on his bed for a moment. "When a vampire is injured the fastest way to heal is to drink blood, and unless you're offering," he tried before I shook my head furiously, backing away.

"Nah, I'm good, have fun with your blood bag and changing, I'm going to the school," I waved off.

"Don't go to the school! Go home-" he called out to me before I took off at a run. My stored up energy for the day pushed me further and faster than normal. I had to get to the school fast. Elena, Jeremy, Aunt Jenna, Caroline, and Bonnie were there. I had to make sure they were okay.

Running up to the school, I noticed an SUV outside and Caroline talking to the driver. My gut told me there was something wrong with that picture, so I jogged up with a pretend smile on my face. "Caroline! Leaving already?" I questioned, out of breath.

"Kyra, where were you going so fast?" Caroline questioned, looking at me like I was on crack. Good, stalling is good. "Logan was just asking if I wanted a ride home," she gestured to the car. That's… not so good. Logan had a tense look on his face while I attempted to foil whatever plan he had involving one of my good friends.

"Why not ride with your mom? I know you two fight a lot, but car rides are usually the best way to hash it out," I offered, still catching my breath. I had to think of a way to get her away from this guy.

"I'd rather just go home and avoid another argument," Caroline sighed, reaching for her arm sadly. Secrets between friends are bad, and here is the prime example.

"Why not ask Matt for a ride?" I rushed out. I had to get her out of here now. Please Care-Bear. I need you to be a teenage girl that wants to get close to a boy right now. "You should at least go try right? I mean, the more time you spend with him, the more he'll open up to you right?"

Her face brightened up at that idea, "You know, I knew there was a reason why we're such good friends. See you later Logan, maybe I can ask you questions about journalism later?" She said goodbye with a wave to him, leaving me there with a vampire… that had a gun… fuck my life tonight.

Rage quickly overcame his face for a moment before he pointed the gun at me. "Get in the car, and don't cause a scene." Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! I nodded simply before going to climb into the back seat. "Nuh uh, front seat," he ushered me with his wooden bullet loaded gun. I really didn't want to get hit with one of those.

"If you're looking to get Jenna back, killing her niece isn't the best way to go about it," I eyed him while getting into the vehicle. My body tensed with fear while I carefully sat in the seat next to the crazy vampire.

"That's why I'm not going to kill you," he shrugged nonchalantly for a man pointing a gun at me. Not realizing his intentions, he used his vampire speed to smash my face into the window, making everything go black. Everything seemed foggy while I started to come to. I registered the car stopping suddenly, and an arm hooking under my legs, pulling me out. Moments after that I was out again.

Not so surprisingly I woke up to the sun rays in my face like I always do. Starting to stretch I felt around my surroundings. I noticed it felt unfamiliar. I bolted upright when my memories of Logan Fell came back and I nearly hit my head on the roof of a car. Groggily I rubbed the sleep from my eyes before looking around for who was driving.

"Damon?" I grumbled, my fear instantly dissipating. How long was I out for? Where the hell were we?

"Kyra! Thank god you're awake," Elena's relieved voiced came from the passenger seat. Wait… Elena's here… Maybe we're just on our way to school. I was knocked unconscious last night… it's definitely a day time, and judging from the sun late morning… just what was going on?

"Where the hell are we?" I asked grumpily.

"Georgia," Damon replied simply from the driver's side, like it was natural we weren't even in the same state. My eyes narrowed on him dangerously. I really hoped he was joking.

"Damon," I growled, unsure of how I got dragged into this in the first place. "The fuck do you mean we're in Georgia?!"

"Calm down Surgeon Barbie, it's just a break for the two of you. Originally just you because I figured the _love birds_ would want some privacy, but Elena's car was flipped over so," Damon shrugged at my morning temper, dealing with it better than most. His hands stayed on the steering wheel, and his crystal blue eyes on the road from what I could see in his mirror. He didn't seem lost, so there was that going for us.

"Your car was, he was going to… what?" I mumbled confused. "What the hell is going on you two?!"

"I told you stopping for coffee was a good idea," Elena muttered, handing me a to-go cup of gas station coffee, made just how I like it. This quickly placated me in the back seat while I sipped on the extra large, extra delicious beverage.

Damon raised a brow at me and my instant change of attitude. "You know, coffee addiction is bad for you."

"Leave my crack out of this," I grumbled at him, a death grip on my life source. "All right, let's play catch up I guess, since we're obviously not going home any time soon," I glared at the stupid vampire's stupid head from the back seat. Incorrigible bastard… I attempted to get comfortable by putting my feet up, but they got promptly swatted back down by the hand and a glare of said incorrigible bastard.

"What happened to you last night?" Elena asked me, stopping me from staking the driver. "We were so worried when you didn't show up like you said you would, and then Matt said you got into Logan's car…"

"Right, that, I should explain that," I mumbled, thinking back to those events. To be fair, I did get Caroline out of the danger zone.

Damon's eyes glared at me from the front in the rearview mirror, and I could barely see his jaw clench for a second. "So, is it just in your nature to do something so incredibly stupid or does it run in your family?" Damon looked between the two of us. I guess I must have irritated him last night. Not sure why he was suddenly concerned though. It's not like we were ever really on good terms. "Cause I'm pretty sure I told you _not_ to go to the school last night."

"Must not have heard you, I was already out the door," I feigned innocence. Sighing, I used a free hand to de-tangle my waves of hair. "The whole getting in his car was an accident though. I saw him talking to Caroline so I went over, convinced her it was a good opportunity to get Matt to take her home, and Logan didn't like that. So he pointed a gun at me, told me to get in the car, and I woke up here. Your turn," I motioned to Elena, going back to my coffee and avoiding the crystal blue eyes staring me down ahead of me.

"You were on the couch at the Boarding House last I remember, so I don't know how you got here," Elena replied honestly, shooting her own glare back on Damon. "Last night, I told Stefan I loved him," she paused in her side of the events, a hint of remorse lingering in her tone.

"Why do you sound so sad about it?" I questioned, done with my coffee, and I at least hoped I didn't look like I had been hit by a garbage truck. The sun shined brightly through the Camero, greatly improving my grumpy mood. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

"I found a picture of her Kyra, of Katherine," she told me, anger lacing her voice instead. Right, Katherine is the former ex-lover of Stefan and Damon. The manipulative bitch is what I nicknamed her in my head. I'll have to try not to say that out loud. I waited for her to continue before I made any quick judgments. "She looks just like me. Like, it looked like a photograph of _me,_ " she stressed.

"So you're feeling hurt, betrayed, and upset because you think he only dated you and got to know you because of that?" I prodded more. I had the habit of going through all of the details and thinking through both sides of the story. Not everything was black and white. "So you left, driving I'm assuming, then what happened?" I wanted her to finish before I said anything else.

"I hit someone, he was in the middle of the road and then he just got back up," she explained with a shiver. That must have been really scary for her, especially after everything with our parents. I remember it took her a long time before she could get in a car again, let alone start driving.

"Right so, probably a vampire," I theorized. "So Damon came along, and boom, we both wake up in the middle of Georgia right?" I asked, making sure that was all. I gave her a hug from the back see and sent another heated glare toward the previously mentioned vampire at the last part. "You realize this is kidnapping right?"

"Oh relax, you both seemed like you needed a break anyway right? Think of this as a time out. By the way, how's the head?" he tried to switch subjects, focusing back on the road completely, looking for a turn.

"Perfectly fine thank you, honestly doesn't feel like I got my head smashed into a window last night at all," my sarcasm came out strong. Though honestly it didn't, but I've always been a fast healer. "And don't play coy with us, what dastardly plan are you roping us into now?"

"Dastardly? I suppose that's one word for it, and it's a surprise. You told me to come to you anyway right? My new partner in crime?" he threw my words back in my face. Oh this man knew how to get under my skin!

I rolled my eyes in response and settled in for a long drive to who knows where, with a vampire and my sister. Man, I hope she got a hold of Aunt Jenna, otherwise we're in deep shit. The scenery seemed a lot dryer than I'd expect, but I've never been to Georgia, so how would I know? At least the weather was nice and sunny, it helped me feel awake and energized again with the help of my favorite beverage.

"Can we stop for more coffee?" I asked eagerly from the back seat at the thought.

"You just had a giant cup of it!" Damon exclaimed incredulously, his scrunched face looked utterly sickened.

"So? You can never have enough coffee, it's like a hug of personality and warmth, plus it muffles my need to stake nasty vampires that take me out of state, in my sleep without, my permission," I smiled sweetly at him in his rearview mirror, but my eyes told him I might just end his undead life.

"You'll live, we're almost there anyway," he brushed me off. Sighing, I resigned myself to gazing back out the window for the rest of the drive. I really did need a vacation though. Elena remained silent ahead of me, lost in her thoughts. She probably didn't know what to think. What, with falling in love with someone who had an ex that looked just like her and such. I really couldn't blame her at this point. Maybe we both needed a nice, long vacation.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _Just like Fire- P!nk_

"An hour is not 'almost there' Damon," huffed from the back seat, still not at our destination. Supposedly we were going somewhere just outside of Atlanta, but I didn't know when to trust what came out of his mouth anymore. Clouds started to filter across the sky, occasionally blocking out the sun, putting a damper on my mood again.

"You know, you both were a lot more fun when you were asleep," Damon snarked at us, picking the flavor of salt for the rest of the trip. I've already lost track of the amount of times that I've rolled my eyes in his presence. "Just a little bit further."

"Why didn't you just take us home Damon," Elena asked, irritation mirroring my own. She had started fidgeting in the front seat, obviously uncomfortable with our situation.

"Listen, both of your problems will be there when we get back, why not just go along for the ride?" he attempted to placate us again.

"What about my car Damon? What about school?" Elena pressed, obvious annoyance in her voice. His upbeat tapping on the steering wheel to the music didn't help matters.

"Oh I moved it off to the side of the road, no one should bother it," he told her simply.

"Pretty sure that's not the point but you aren't listening to me anyway," I retorted with my arms crossed over my chest and feet back on the seats to signify my lack of care at the situation. He did have a point though, we were already in Georgia, and there isn't anything we can do about it now. Especially after that awkward phone call from Stefan not that long ago, asking where we were and to talk to Elena. I had to keep it short to save Elena from having to talk to him. Thinking back to something Damon had said a few moments ago while I stared out of the window, I added with a 'sup brah' nod, "And Elena might not have her necklace, but you've already tried to compel me before and it didn't work. So keep your voodoo vampy mind tricks to yourself."

His blue eyes seemed thoughtful for a moment before he asked, "Why is that by the way? You said you weren't on vervain right? I've never met someone I couldn't compel."

"Wait, you tried to compel her?!" Elena asked half in shock, half outraged.

"Why didn't it work?" he pushed further, ignoring Elena's outburst.

"How should I know? No one's ever tried to compel me," I shrugged, genuinely curious about the answer myself.

Elena pulled the direction of the conversation back, since we were all talking again. "What about that guy, was he a-"

"Vampire? Looked like it," he shrugged almost pulling a Jim from the Office face. You know, he hasn't been very helpful during this trip other than maybe getting us away from everything.

"Do you know him?" Elena asked, trying to get more information. I hadn't bothered to think they might have known each other since he's staked/killed almost every other vampire that has come to Mystic Falls.

"It's not like we all hang out at a vampy bar and grill," he replied sarcastically.

Speaking of bars, we pulled into a dusty parking lot to a rundown looking one. Jumping out of the back seat of the car as soon as Elena got out, I looked around with distaste. Some mini vacation Damon. The old dusty blue overhang labeled 'Bree's Bar' stared at us from the parking space. This place looked dirty and abandoned. I tried not to be a snob, but this place just gave me the creeps. Bad vibes all around.

"A bar Damon? They'll never let us in," Elena's voice gave way to irritation.

"Sure they will, come on," He nodded us to follow. Elena looked at me unsure, so I just shrugged and followed. Not like we had much of a choice.

As soon as we walked in, I could smell that we were in fact, in a bar. The smell of old smoke, musty old chairs and billiard chalk wafted to my nose. I almost sneezed from the stench. The music wasn't horrible though. When Damon came into view of the bartender, Bree I'm assuming, her face changed instantly to a fake sense of happy surprise. Maybe I'm just good at reading people. Damon's smile on the other hand, had a genuine look of happiness in it. Like he was visiting an old friend that he made trouble with in his younger years.

"No. No it can't be, Damon?" she asked in that fake voice of hers. Something didn't feel right about her and it made me uneasy. She jumped over the table to get to him, so I just backed up with a raised brow. "My honey pie," she smiled as she grabbed his face in her hands and commenced to make out with him for a solid fifteen seconds. Not that I counted or anything… Oh… so they were _those_ kinds of friends. I took that opportunity to look away and survey the room. Dark enough to hold vampires, but hopefully not their busy day or else the place really was abandoned. There were some cat calls here and there at their 'show' but the patrons didn't seem too awful.

Bree walked back over to the bar in her skin tight jeans, somehow not tripping in those heels she wore, and grabbed a bottle of alcohol. I couldn't tell if it held whiskey or bourbon from where I stood. "Listen up everybody!" she called out to the bar. "Here's to the man," she started pouring shots, "that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances at happiness! Drink up!" she passed Elena and me a shot.

Without thinking about it, I downed the shot, cause when in Rome right? Elena gave me her, 'what do you think you're doing look', while I gave her my own look of, 'meh, why not?'. Damon snuck in his chance to steal her shot by snaking his hand in front of me, so she snoozed she lost. Bree just took her shot glass back and poured her another one before the questions began.

"So how'd he rope you two in?" Bree asked us with a dazzling smile. She knew how to work her customers. Information seemed to be her specialty, being a bartender.

"Oh, we're not roped," Elena started, gesturing between us while she poured me another one that I downed immediately.

"Oh honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped," she smiled sympathetically. If she didn't give me a bad feeling, I'd probably like her. "Either way, just enjoy the ride," she bobbed her head like she was at a concert to add emphasis.

"Ok," Elena replied, slowly starting to loosen up. "So how did you two meet?"

I leaned forward, curious to know some Damon history myself. I looked between the two of them and wagged my eyebrows suggestively. That in turn earned me one of the best eye rolls from Damon. It's my policy to fight sarcasm and innuendos with the like. I watched Bree intently, her chuckle escaping her lips while she poured me my third drink.

"College."

Elena eyed Damon skeptically, "You went to college?"

"I've been on college grounds yes," he answered vaguely. I bet he actually took classes at one point too, he just didn't want to admit it to us.

"About twenties years ago when I was a sweet young freshmen, I met this handsome man and I fell in love. Then he told me his little secret and that just made me love him more, because you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody," she smiled. If that's the truth, why is she being so fake now?

"She's a witch," Damon whispered to us. I downed my shot despite myself at that point. Supernatural shit everywhere we go. "Don't you think you should tone it down there tiger?" Damon eyeballed me, clearly not expecting me to be a drinker. My mutant liver never let me get drunk though.

"Elena and I used to party all the time, I can handle a few shots," I explained, not feeling it yet, even though Elena was eying me in her mother mode. "Back to you though. Tell us more about the mysterious Damon," I asked in a pretend mystified voice.

"He rocked my world back then. He's amazing in the sack isn't he?" she asked me directly. This made me cough uncontrollably for a minute, making me thankful I didn't do another shot. "But I'm afraid all he is mostly, is a walk away Joe." She downed her shot she had poured for herself, and her true scorned nature came out to play. That's more what I was expecting. She turned away to compose herself before putting her fake smile back on. "So, what is it that you want?"

"All right kiddies, adults need to talk," Damon shooed us away. Another eye roll happened before I could stop it. I didn't argue. The alcohol putting me into a false sense of good mood, even if it would be shortly lived, so instead I grabbed Elena while we made our way outside.

"Call Jenna, let her know we fell asleep at Bonnie's, Stefan stuff came up, everything is fine," I told her, sitting against the wall. I was decent at coming up with lies, I just couldn't tell them. Elena could do that better than me, and considering how bad she was at that… well I don't like to talk about it. "Think we'll get home before dark?" I wondered out loud. "Never mind, don't answer that," I sighed, running a hand through my hair. What I wouldn't give for a hair tie right now. Right after Elena got off the phone with Jenna, her phone rang again. I perked up when she hesitated. Must be Stefan.

"It's me," she said into the phone. "You lied to me Stefan," there was a pause for his side of the conversation. I looked at the window to the bar to see Damon gazing out curiously. That little eavesdropper! "So you didn't lie?" she asked with a look of disbelief. More of a 'stop lying to me when I've already caught you in a lie' look. She has very specific looks. "How am I connected to Katherine, Stefan?" she pushed more. Good, I'm proud of you for sticking to your guns sister. "And I'm supposed to believe that?" I don't think I've seen her get this angry since that time I accidently dropped her doll in the toilet… She pressed the button to hang up rather violently.

"You okay?" Damon appeared out of NO WHERE.

I jumped back surprised, nearly falling on my face, "Holy SHIT you vampires need a bell or something," I yelled at him, putting a hand over my heart to steady myself.

"Don't pretend to care," Elena rebuked him. "I know you're gloating on the inside."

"At least he asked Elena, be a little nice when nice is due," I reprimanded, pulling myself up. "Even if he was eavesdropping like a creeper," I whispered so only he heard me, pretending to dust my pants off.

"I heard that," he looked at me with a glare. I gave him an innocent look on my face before smiling broadly. It was actually kind of fun going back and forth with him. I don't know what my smile did, but he did a half smile, half smirk back.

"So, since you kidnapped us, does this break from reality include food?" I asked him hopefully. He sighed, which I took as a green light, and ushered us back inside. Food is second only to coffee. We made our way back into the bar, the lighting a severe contrast to the outside making me have to wait till my eyes adjusted before moving so I didn't trip over something. Sitting at the bar, Damon ordered us food and himself a beer.

"So, if I'm descended from Katherine, does that make me part vampire or something?" Elena asked before eating a fry. Valid question I suppose. How does one have a half dead, half undead baby?

"Vampires can't procreate," he paused before turning to me with a smoldering look, "But we do love to try." After finishing his bite of human food, he added, "No, if you were related to Katherine, then she would have had to have a child before she turned." Okay, that explained it better.

"Did Stefan think he could use me to replace her?" she asked, angrily taking another bite. To be honest when I thought about it, it didn't seem very Stefan like.

"Kinda creepy if you ask me," Damon egged her on, chomping down onto another fry.

I rolled my eyes again, adding my two cents, "You'll never know until you talk to him. Maybe he saw you, got curious, then fell in love after he got to know you. It'd be pretty freaky to run into an ex-girlfriend look-a-like that you thought died a hundred something years ago. Right, Damon?" I bit my fry in his general direction. Sounded like he was trying to cause trouble in paradise. He shouldn't meddle in other people's love lives like that just because he was miserable.

"Just eat your food Surgeon Barbie," he grumbled at me.

"Why do you call her that?" Elena questioned, looking between us weirdly.

"Cause I took wooden bullets out of him. So we had a moment and he gave me a cute little nickname," I replied in a cutesy voice, pretending the air was his cheek and pinching it.

"You know, we could always play doctor later if you want," he threw out the obvious sexual innuendo, giving me a quick look over.

"How are you eating food food?" I questioned suddenly changing subject. My curiosity had been getting the better of me anyway, and I'd rather not keep going back and forth to raise any sexual tension. I might not have had a boyfriend in a long time, but there might have been a mistake behind a tree at one of the parties… a few repeated mistakes. I had been rebelling, don't judge.

"What? Cause I'm," he pretended to look around before whispering, "dead?" Going back to his normal posture he kept going, "As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, everything functions… relatively normal. Do you not like pickles? What's wrong with you?!" He legit sounded offended at the thought while grabbing them off my plate.

"So this weird nice act you have," Elena added on the question chart, "is any of it real?" He merely looked between the two of us before doing a soft, half assed, mmhmm with his mouth full of burger, before he continued his food. Bree stopped back over and gave Damon and I another beer. Surprisingly, Elena ordered one for herself. "What?" she looked at us. "Break from reality remember? Well that break is going to need a beer." Food being eaten and beers down, we decided to join in some drinking games with the bar crowd. Elena kept getting pumped up like the old days. I still could only hold a relative buzz, even after have a ton of shots.

Damon dribbled a little, so drunk Elena decided to tease. "That's three! Do you need a bib?"

"I'm sorry I can't unhinge my jaw like a snake to consume alcohol," Damon retorted, not expecting this side of my sister.

"Excuses, excuses, but we'll take the compliment," I winked, placing my shot glass on the counter to be refilled.

"Who's next?" Elena challenged. I knew I had to cut her off soon, she can get a little wild when she drinks too much.

"You two should be on the floor!" the older woman next to us slurred.

"Never been drunk, wouldn't know!" I called over the noise. Damon eyed me curiously at that. He must have seen how much I've drank tonight. I came close once, I had chugged a fifth of rum, but shortly after I was only back to a light buzz. Stupid mutant liver.

"I am not even drunk!" she lied. "My tolerance is like, way up-" she jumped up for half a second, "here!" I noticed Bree's demeanor change momentarily after someone walked behind us. What was this woman up to? A bartender just giving alcohol away to minors? This must be a distraction of some kind. Call me paranoid, but after meeting actual vampires, nothing surprised me anymore. Plus, I can guarantee Damon has pissed off a lot of people somewhere along the line. That's just how he was. Don't think I didn't see that head tilt in our direction! I knew she was a fraud.

Elena was enjoying a game of pool, so when her phone rang, I took it outside to answer it. "Aunt Jenna? Hi, yea, we're fine. We just-"

An arm snuck around my waist and a hand went over my mouth. I dropped Elena's phone trying to fend off the attacker. My muffled 'Let goes' didn't go very far. His vampire speed took us around the building where he put me on a ladder off the ground.

"This isn't about you, I'm sorry," he told me full of remorse.

Damon came around the corner just in time for me to scream, "DAMON NO!" Just as the mystery vamp came at him with a baseball bat. Unfortunately, Damon wasn't expecting it despite my warning and went down anyway. Jumping off the ladder, I ran toward him, for once afraid for his life. He was nice today, he can change, I _saw_ it. Everyone deserves that chance.

"What the hell," Damon groaned from the ground, attempting to roll over to get back up.

I made it down to them just as the vampire began to dump gas on him. "No!" I screamed out ready to jump in even though there was immediate danger. The vampire turned to me, his face all veins and his eyes red. Despite all of this, I jumped in front of Damon anyway. "Stop! Please!" I begged. The vampire went to grab for my arm, so I pushed out my hand on instinct. A bright light jumped out of my palm, hitting him in his shoulder. He screamed for a moment before dashing back out of the way. What did I just do? I could hear the sizzles from where we stood.

"You're defending him?!" the man shouted at me, completely ignoring the fact I shot some weird ball thingy at him. "He is a monster!"

"Look in a mirror bud," I nodded back to him, the adrenaline was keeping me standing. Shooting that ball seemed to have an effect on my energy levels and I had to stay standing between the two.

"Who are you?" Damon questioned while he writhed in pain from his bones resetting into place more than likely. Good, let's ignore the ball of light. I like that idea.

"That's perfect, you have no idea!" the man bit back pissed, looking like he was ready to charge again. Please don't make me do that thing again dude. I don't know if I can handle it or if I could even do it again.

"What did he do?" I asked, holding my defensive stance.

"He killed my girlfriend," the man said, his grief and rage radiating off him. "What did she do to you?!" he screamed back at Damon. The puzzle pieces started to fall together. Damn it Damon… "My girlfriend went to visit Stefan, and he _killed_ her," he pointed.

"Stefan's friend Lexi," I had let out a breath I forgot I had been holding. "Lexi was good, and that means you're good too. Please, be better than he is, heaven knows we need more people like that," I tried to appeal to him. He paused for a moment, deliberating through his pain and suffering. Finally he sped around me, picking Damon up with his vampire speed and threw him against a wall. His face turned back to normal, but his body remained rigid. "Thank you," I had let out the other breath I held, adrenaline finally fading. I had to remember to breathe in these tense situations, I'm sure there would be more of them.

"I didn't do this for you," he spat out before taking off.

The little energy I had left, I jogged over to Damon. "You okay there champ?" is what I would have said, if I hadn't heard Elena call my name and my vision fade to dark. I really hope this isn't a reoccurring theme.

I'm not sure how long I had slept, but the sun started to wake me up again. I could hear Damon and Elena talking in the front seat, going over what happened with Lexi's boyfriend, and her asking why he brought her along. It was kind of sweet, listening to the awkward crushing going on in the seats ahead of me. Then their conversation took a different turn.

"Then why'd you bring Kyra?" Elena asked slyly.

"She, also, isn't bad company," he replayed the same line for a third time, pausing between the lines.

I could almost hear Elena roll her eyes. "Damon," she tried again.

"So I kinda like her spunk, sue me," Damon shrugged, trying to fight off the same awkwardness. "I thought she'd make it interesting, and what do you know? Glowy hand ball thing and she did."

"What was that by the way?" I asked, sitting up from my original position.

"Eavesdropper!" he gasped over dramatically, smiling at me in the mirror while he threw my words back at me yet again.

"Ha, ha. No really. I remember doing that… thing… and then I passed out. Does that mean I'm some weird supernatural thing too?" I questioned. Not that I needed that on my plate too. I had too many vampires trying to kill my family to deal with first.

"Well, I've never seen a normal person shoot a glowing light at vampire that wasn't a witch," Damon sassed back, a thoughtful look crossing his face. "And even then, I haven't even seen a witch do that."

"Great. That's exactly what I needed," I sighed, lying back down. "Did you at least pick me up a cup of coffee?" I groaned, wishing for the best, but expecting the worst.

"Nope," Damon pretended to crush my hopes and dreams. "We got you three. Now you don't have an excuse to be a grump ass on the way back," he stared at me through the rearview with his brows raised in expectation.

"Give me my life givers!" I greedily put my hand out for the tray. Elena laughed while handing it back to me. Well, as long as we avoid the wrath of Aunt Jenna, this won't be such a bad adventure. Fully caffeinated, I realized I slept much longer than I originally thought. We pulled into the boarding house no more than a half hour later.

Elena went straight to Stefan's room, so I decided to mind my own business and hang out with Damon. Looking around their place again, taking in all of the old period style furniture and decorations again, I turned back to Damon.

"What… what do you think I am Damon?" I asked him nervously, rubbing my arm. I didn't usually act like this, but I felt like everything we had just been through made me trust him more. He's accessed the stage past my sarcasm.

"Dunno, witch maybe?" he theorized, one hand in his pocket, the other on the mantel next to some pictures.

"Wouldn't Bonnie know then?" I questioned, moving closer to him.

"Look, I've never seen," he paused trying to describe the ball of light from last night, " _anything_ like what you did last night, and I've been around for almost a hundred and fifty years."

I could feel everything crashing down again, everything had to change. Why couldn't I just be normal in some aspect? I held my arms across my chest, attempting to shield myself from the world and its new mysteries. Damon looked at me curiously, trying to decide what to do with this side of me that he hadn't seen.

"You're still you, you know," he nodded to me, heading over to his cart of alcohol. He handed me a glass of his strong, smooth bourbon. "You just have even more to learn about yourself," he shrugged, grabbing a drink of his own."And," he extended the word, "since I kind of owe you one, I'll help you figure it out Kyra. You did kinda save my life."

Looking up to him, I grinned happily before downing the alcohol. "And don't you forget it Damon."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 _Shake it Out- Florence and the Machine_

I could count on one hand the number of times that I had no idea what Elena had going through her head. This moment was one of those times. Stefan had dropped the bomb on her before we left that she had been adopted. I can speculate that she probably felt hurt, betrayed, lied to, and confused all at once, but I had a hard time telling which when she kept her face so emotionless like she did at that time. We made it home together, and silently agreed to bum rush the door in a hurried attempt to avoid Aunt Jenna.

Entering the door, we weren't that lucky. Jenna jumped up from her spot on the couch, where she no doubt had been waiting for us. "You know, I don't set a lot of rules, not with the two of you," she started in on us. I felt like shrinking into the carpet, while Elena on the other hand finally revealed her anger with the look on her face. "I trust you two to give me the truth," she kept laying into us. I am so sorry Aunt Jenna for what's about to happen. "You two lied to me about where you were," she seethed. "I thought we were closer than that," she ended with the trade mark 'disappointed parent' look.

Stopping midflight up the stairs, Elena turned on our Aunt, "Now is not the time to talk to me about lies Jenna." I couldn't help but flinch back at the fight that unfolded before me.

Aunt Jenna looked taken aback from the outburst before recovering. "Don't turn this back on me, I didn't do anything!"

That seemed to break my sister's last straw. "Ok, question," she started calmly. "Am I adopted? I want you to tell me the truth," she narrowed her eyes, watching Jenna's face change from 'parent mode' to absolute shock. It hurt to watch. "I trusted you Jenna, I thought we were closer than that." I could only stand in the after burn of that last comment while Jenna tried to recover.

"I didn't- they asked me not to!" she called after Elena, her face fallen. She turned to me, a gentle look on her face, trying to do damage control. "You know it doesn't matter, right? You're both still my nieces and your parents loved you both so much," she looked at me, trying to make me understand her meaning.

I smiled sadly. Aunt Jenna had it rough today, worrying about us, then everything with Elena… I just couldn't bear to add to it. "I know Aunt Jenna. She'll come around, don't worry." Why didn't they tell her? Was there a difference between my sister and I when it came to our parents? I know I wasn't born to them, but I don't think I've ever felt unloved here. Whatever the reason they didn't tell us, I decided to let it go and focus on Elena. I came to her room and knocked before quietly questioning, "Elena?" I slowly opened the door to see Elena sitting on her bed, wiping away fresh tears.

"Did you know Kyra?" she asked me, a hint of accusation in her voice.

"Of course not! It's not like we adopted kids have some adoption radar," I tried to joke. Elena had to muffle a strangled chuckle with that one.

With a sigh, she apologized. "I'm sorry Ky. Everything is just so… confusing, and I feel like I don't know anything about my life anymore."

"Tell me about it," I cracked a smile at our predicament. Sitting next to her on her bed, I add, "I don't think Damon should plan our 'vacations' anymore." She nodded in full agreement.

"So what happened exactly?" she questioned me.

"Well, that girl vamp that Damon killed, Lexi, had a very unhappy boyfriend. So, when I went outside to answer Jenna's call, I got snuck up on and used to lure Damon to a trap. I just… I felt so helpless and angry that I couldn't do anything, when he started pouring gas on him, the next thing I knew, I was shooting ball of light a vampire. It burned him, but didn't kill him." I paused, looking for the best way to describe it. "It was like I shot a glowing ball of concentrated sunlight." I scooted back to lean against the wall. "You know, it's going to be ridiculous if all of us are something supernatural."

Elena scooted next to me and linked her arm into mine. "We'll figure it all out Ky. Don't worry okay?"

"Just a minor identity crisis, that's all. Seems to go around in this household," I joked, covering up my anxiety. What am I? What about Lena? That Katherine chick, why is she an exact copy? Too many questions and not enough answers.

"I already texted Bonnie. I'm gonna meet her at the grill after dinner, you up for it?" she asked hopefully. Not that I thought leaving here tonight after everything that happened moments ago with Jenna was a brilliant idea, but the need for answers won over my need for sleep and the need to make my aunt happy. I nodded, just enjoying the comfort of a bed instead of the back of a cramped muscle car. Elena sat there for a moment, a contemplative look on her face when she added, "Kyra… I'm glad you're my sister."

"Me too Lena," I smile, resting my head on her shoulder. The moment was interrupted by Jeremy screaming up the stairs for pizza money. Elena rolled her eyes before jumping up. I took this opportunity to clean myself up before we left for the grill.

Shortly after food, we made our way to the town's bar, despite our last experience at one. Bonnie waved us over to her booth quickly enough, and we ordered some non-alcoholic drinks. Elena explained the details of what occurred over the last few days, even what happened with me, while I just swirled the straw in my cup.

"Wow, I guess I missed a lot," Bonnie sat back in her seat, taking it all in. "I can't believe you're adopted Elena." Good, we'll pass over my possible witchy bloodline for now.

"I just can't believe no one ever told me," she stated sadly.

"You know," I added in, hoping not to stoke the fire, "when you're ready, I'm sure Aunt Jenna will know something more…"

Elena shook her head, not wanting to give in yet. "No, I'm not ready yet. I'm still coming to terms with everything."

"Back to you Kyra. So… you shot a ball of… sunlight at a vampire?" she asked slowly, making sure she heard me correctly.

"Yea, I guess I'm a witch… or… something? It's hard to keep all of the mythology straight anymore," I replied, only slightly frustrated.

"Here, hold my hand," Bonnie instructed. "Maybe I can get a read on you." I didn't hesitate to reach forward to grab my friend's hand. She paused, focusing hard with her eyes closed. After a moment, she finally gave in. "I got nothing. No visions, not familiar witch feeling. I have absolutely no idea what you could possibly be."

"That's comforting," I sighed. "But hey, this means I'm not completely defenseless, right?"

"Yea, except for the part when you passed out," Elena gave me a pointed look. I shrugged. Could have been worse. Finishing up her drink, she stood up. "Sorry to bail guys, but my outfit for the dance is severely lacking accessories. I need to run to the store."

"Oh! Pick me up some giant hoop earrings, will you? I'll finish up and pay here," I wave her off while going for my wallet. Elena left leaving Bonnie and I alone for a moment. Getting ready to stand myself, I jumped at the body unexpectedly joining us. "A bell Salvatore. You need a freaking bell."

"Look," he ignored me, going straight for Bonnie, "we got off on the wrong foot."

"You tried to kill me," Bonnie gave him the look. When I say 'the look', I mean the, are you fucking kidding me, look.

"But I didn't," He tried again, attempting to sound innocent. "If I really wanted to I would have. That has to count for something."

"High running emotions, blah, blah, blah, she ruined your chance at freeing your one true love from the tomb, whatever. You. Still. Tried. To. Kill. Her," I poked his chest with every period, glaring up at him. He looked at me annoyed but dismissed me again.

"You know I can set fires with my mind, right? Fire kills vampires. Stay the hell away from me," Bonnie told him aggravated.

"Everything okay over here?" the bartender walked over. Oh, it's Ben, some jock that graduated a year or two ago. Didn't pay attention to him much, I remember Bonnie used to have a thing for him though.

"Yea, we're fine," Damon waved him off.

"I wasn't asking you," Ben squared up, trying to look big. Please don't try to size up a vampire dude. I'm really tired of getting in the middle of all of this. Damon, of course unthreatened, looked at me for a moment.

"All right Damon, let's get you home, get you your meds, and off to bed huh?" I push him to get him moving. This kills two birds with one stone. Bonnie gets a few minutes alone with her crush and I diffuse the situation. Sending her a wink, I ignored Damon's eye rolls while getting him outside. "So what did you want from Bonnie?"

"What do you mean? I just wanted to start fresh," he feigned a hurt voice.

"Right, this has nothing to do with the Tomb still?" I raised a brow. "What did I say about leaving my friends out of it?"

"Need a date to the dance tomorrow night?" he switched the subject. "I just so happen to be free," he asked me suggestively.

"Please, stag is the way to go. No awkward pictures, weird silences, or parental figures asking why my date is a couple hundred years older than me," I joked, giving him a shove. "But yea, whatever. You could just ask you know. Instead of being all secretive and manipulative. You'd probably get better results if you just did it from the beginning," I finished with a wave before running off, leaving him behind. The street lamps barely lit anything as I made my way down the road. I had four blocks to go and I'd be home free. No sooner had the thought left my head that I started to feel the prickly sensation on the back of my neck telling me I was being watched.

"Change of plans, I'm walking you home," came a sudden and familiar voice next to me. I nearly jumped ten feet out of my skin, but that just seems to come with being around Damon. "I know, a bell. It's just so much fun scaring you."

"I'm sure I can make it home on my own Damon," I side-eyed him suspiciously. "What happened?"

"Your sister got a phone call. From the vampire that totaled her car. Needless to say, Stefan called and asked me to make sure you got home all right," he explained. Before I could barrage him with questions, he put his hand up and answered, "Yes, Elena is fine. Yes, she's at home, and yes, I will be your date tomorrow night." He wouldn't take no for an answer, would he? Instead I just rolled my eyes while he continued. "Call it a precaution with your sister's vampire stalker."

Walking forward another block of sidewalk, I felt that prickly sensation again. Fear swept through me as I stopped to look around. My eyes landed on a dark figure standing across the street. It had long pitch black hair and the palest skin I had ever seen. I don't know who it was, but something deep within me told me I should be afraid.

"What?" Damon asked me, a quizzical look on his face. When I didn't answer, he followed my eyes to the figure. "What's wrong? Who is that?"

I was frozen in place, something gnawed at the back of my head, telling me I knew who this was, and I should know I needed to be running. "I… I don't know, but… I feel like… I _should_ know." I broke my gaze away, and looked to Damon, hoping he saw the fear in my eyes. When we looked back, the figure was gone.

"What is with you and your sister attracting the supernatural? Come on, you're almost home," he grabbed my arm, trying to hurry me along at that point. Damon walked me up to the door while I spaced out from the encounter earlier. Who was that? What's with this feeling of impending doom? Nothing seemed to add up anymore and everything gets more confusing by the day. Ignorance really _is_ bliss if this is what they meant. A cold breeze made me wrap my arms around myself, not just to fight off the sudden chill, but to give myself at least the small ounce of comfort I could muster.

"You okay?" Damon broke me out of my thoughts.

"Mr. Salvatore, are you concerned?" I mocked in a surprised voice, ending in it with a smile.

"What can I say? You rub off on me Gilbert," he paused thoughtfully for a second before he adds, "You shouldn't do that you know."

"What?"

"Use your sarcasm like a shield. It's okay to be scared you know," he stared his deep blue eyes through the windows of my soul for half a second before I ruined it.

"Pot, this is kettle, you're black," I walked to the door, hand raised to the knob. "Besides, elders first," I raised my brows in a challenging manner. He raised his hands in defeat before he left me to my own devices.

Entering the house, I went straight to my room to collapse face first into the pillows on my bed. This day had been too eventful for my liking. I didn't even want to get undressed because the exhaustion hit me so hard. So I didn't. I let myself doze in that position until I finally drifted off uncomfortably in my jeans. That might have been my undoing. The nightmares plagued me, my legs felt confined and it made the dreams even more terrifying. I couldn't run, I couldn't scream, and all of the blood… it just wouldn't stop, and that dark figure looming behind everything, like there was a link I couldn't place.

"Kyra!" a voice shook me awake. Breathing heavily I shot up and looked around, trying to settle my fast paced heart. "You were having nightmares again," Jer sat at the edge of my bed, hand on my foot to wake me up.

"I'm sorry Jer, I didn't mean to wake you," I rubbed my eyes, trying to bring my wits back to me. I had to decide if I wanted to sneak into Elena's room or tough it out the rest of the night. I didn't want to keep her up all night before the dance tomorrow. At least one of us should be rested. I let out a yawn before getting up to grab some pj's.

"It's not your fault you have nightmares occasionally. Are you going to be okay? Want me to get Elena?" he asked tiredly.

"I'm fine Jer. Promise. Get back to bed," I waved him off, pushing him back to the door. "I just need to get comfy, that's all." He seemed too tired to argue when I pushed him back into his room. Changing into something much less restricting, I finally crawled under the covers. I wished it had been that easy to get sleep, but that figure kept reappearing in my dreams the rest of the night, not letting me get a wink of sleep. It didn't help the sun never came out in the morning. A depressing drizzle greeted my already damp mood. I shuffled wordlessly to the coffee pot. Not bothering with a regular cup, I had to pull out big bertha. A fake mug, that works just fine mind you, and it can hold a whole pot of coffee in it. Jenna already had her cup before looking at me.

"That bad huh?" she winced at the bags under my eyes. "Did you want to take the day off from school?" I shook my head no, I didn't want to miss out on the dance tonight. I could only respond in disapproving grunts and slight shakes of my head. "I'll get another pot started." I nodded with a grunt of agreement.

Jeremy sauntered in next, looking tired, but not as bad as I did. "Holy shit Ky, why didn't you say anything?" I grunted and waved him off, sipping the sweet nectar of life giving nature. "She's not going to school right?" Jeremy looked to our Aunt for confirmation. I glared between the two of them over the brim of my giant coffee mug. Jeremy raised his hands in defeat before backing away slowly. "Fine, I won't be the caring brother." I nodded with a huff, words escaping me still.

Elena graced us with her presence then, taking a long look at me. "You okay Ky?" I growled lowly at all of the questions and talking. Can't they see I'm drinking my coffee?! She backed away avoiding coming close to me. "Gotcha, rough night then. She going to be okay to go to school today?"

"That's what she's grunted to us anyway. I'd prefer to get to class alive today, so I'm not gonna push her this time," Jenna walked away with her books in hand. I ignored everyone and downed the rest of coffee, feeling exhausted, but I might be able to form complete sentences later. I loved the rain when I didn't have nightmares. Rain and the sun meant rainbows. In a poetic way, it brought out beautiful results when you combined something so cold and dark with something so bright and warm.

Trudging through the water into the school, I could tell there would be no beautiful combo today, just dark, gloomy, and clammy. Foggy. That's another word I would use to describe today. I can't even remember most of it. I might have made it through History, but Alaric saw me nearly fall out of my seat, so he sent me to lie down in the principal's office for the rest of the day. I didn't sleep on that uncomfortable, old, musty cot. So, I resigned myself to counting the ceiling tiles until Elena came to get me at the end of the day.

"Are you going to be able to go to the dance Ky?" Elena asked me worriedly.

"No worries, I'm getting my second wind already. I'm ready to par-tay," I replied from the back seat. That wasn't a complete lie. The sun barely peeked out behind some clouds when we got home, it gave me at least a little feeling of refreshment. I wonder if that had anything to do with that ball thingy from the other night… nah, it's probably just a coincidence.

Judging from Aunt Jenna's state of dress, she had been invited to chaperone the dance tonight. I looked between Elena and Jenna before deciding it was in my best interest to go get ready while they talked some more. They needed to hash it out. We're all a tight nit group, so bumps can happen, so long as everyone found a way to get over them. Getting to my closet, I whipped out an old purple poodle skirt I used for a Halloween party once, along with a couple of scarves. One for my neck, another for my hair, both a lighter shade of purple than the skirt. This decade's dance wasn't hard to dress up for, thank god. Finishing up, I heard Elena bustling around her room getting ready. The final touch of lip gloss, and I was ready to go.

Skipping over to Elena's room, I jumped on her bed. "Did you pick up those earrings?" I asked over her hair dryer. A movement caught my eye from beside me on the bed. Isn't that Dad's pocket watch? When did Elena get it? "Hey Elena? Is dad's watch supposed to do that?" Apparently, that caught her attention because she immediately stopped what she was doing.

"No, that means there's a vampire nearby…" she trailed off. Frowning, she pulled out her phone. I jumped up and rushed to close the door, you never know.

"I know I was out of it today, but dad's watch being a pertinent vampire detection instrument? Kinda important knowledge," I told her frustrated while I locked the door. She ignored me with a frustrated look when Stefan wasn't the one that picked up the phone.

"Damon, where's Stefan?"

"On his way to you, why?" I could barely hear his voice.

"Oh thank god, the watch started spinning so I was worried," she let out a sigh of relief. I let out an uneasy breath. One dance where nothing happened, is that so much to ask for? It might be in Mystic Falls. I unlocked the door and made my way downstairs to look around anyway. I'm pretty sure Jenna left with Jeremy in tow already, but I had to make sure. Elena followed close behind, phone still in hand. I made it to the kitchen when a figure dropped down from the ceiling, latching onto Lena.

"Elena!" Stefan and I cried out at the same time. Stefan swooped in, in this case swooping was not bad, and once thrown, I attempted to hit him with a smaller sized ball of whatever the shit that thing glowing out of my hand was. It hit the vamp squarely in the back, sending him flying further than Stefan had thrown him. "Are you two okay?" Stefan asked between the two of us. I had to sit down on the couch after the vamp high tailed it out of our house.

"Can you grab me an apple and some water?" I asked from my position. I started to feel light headed again. So much for that second wind. Stefan nodded speeding to the kitchen and back while calling who I could only assume to be Damon. Just like that, the merry four started off the night right.

"How did he even get in here?" Damon asked incredulously upon arrival.

"Disguised himself as a pizza guy and got himself invited in," Stefan explained. Wait, did I space out on that part of the convo?

Damon sighed dramatically. "Well, gotta give him points for that."

"So, we need to kill him then," I state, taking another bite out of my apple, hoping the natural sugars would pep me back up.

"We? _We_ aren't doing anything," Damon scoffed. "Stefan and I will deal with it, while you keep your trigger-happy ass home Surgeon Barbie."

"Look, the dance will be the safest place. Jenna and Jeremy are already there, and if Elena and I stay here, we'd be sitting ducks. So, we go, lure the guy out, and stake him till he turns grey and cold like, and I might even be able to set him on fire for extra measure," I shrug, attempting to use what logic I had left in my foggy brain.

"He was invited in Stefan. All of us are in danger until we get him taken care of," Elena supported me. Good, so I did make some sense today.

"Fine, but Little Miss Sunshine has to find a seat and park it," Damon looked at me with his intense eyes again. "We don't need her passing out on us again." To be completely honest, I thought he'd love the idea of making us bait.

Standing up suddenly, I whipped my hair behind me with a dramatic flare. "No one puts Baby in the corner," I attempted to quote Dirty Dancing. I think this would be akin to feeling drunk, if I could feel drunk for more than ten minutes. Apparently, my personality shift, which to be perfectly honest wasn't by too much, caused concern amongst the vampires in the room. I skimbled, that's a new word I made up it's a skip and a stumble, to the car, letting Lena explain my extra giggly side while we geared up for battle. Have you ever been so tired you feel like you're tipsy and giggly? That's about where I was. Entering the school, Elena and I walked in arm in arm.

"How you feeling Ky?" Elena asked beside me, walking us over to Bonnie and Caroline.

"Is there such a thing as a third wind?" I quirked back, getting an adrenaline buzz from the room and music around me. Elena smiled and shook her head at me. She deserved to have a good time, bait or not. "How are you fine ladies doing tonight?" I smiled at our friends.

"Not so great," Caroline sighed at us. I noticed Matt wasn't here. He must have had to work at the Grill tonight. Poor guy. "But, I put two hours into this," she waved to her outfit, "So I have to stay for at least half that." I watched Caroline's expression change sour for a moment and her eyes narrowed. "What's Damon doing here?"

"He wanted to come," I shrugged, looking for an excuse for Caroline. Otherwise I would have just told Bonnie the truth. "Besides, Elena's dating the noble Stefan, so we're just going to have to deal with Damon," I looked between the two girls that held disdain and hatred for my… sort of friend? I'm not quite sure what I should call him.

The bright lights on the dark dance floor made me happy. The music bouncing in the air off the walls, the heat of the night. I loved it. All of it. It made me forget just for a moment there were vampires trying to kills us and that we had no idea what I was. I lived for moments like this, tired or not. Elena smiled happily at my mood, mirroring the brief sentiments.

"I'm gonna go get some punch, you want any Ky?" Elena asked me before she excused herself. I shook my head no in response, just taking in the exuberant energy around me. Damon took this opportunity to glide over with the slow song starting.

"Hey Bonnie, wanna dance?" he asked her first. I eyed him, he doesn't listen very well, does he?

"No," she replied, short with him. Caroline took Bonnie by the arm and led her out to the dance floor, or at least away from Damon.

"You don't listen very well do you? Hundred years of dust in your ears?" I asked him as Elena returned. She handed me a drink anyway, even though I told her no. My response was my patented Kyra Eye roll.

"What'd you do to them?" Elena asked when she noticed our friends disappeared.

"I only asked if Bonnie wanted to dance, I've been a perfect gentleman," he tried to fool my sister.

"Why do I somehow doubt that?" Stefan piped in.

Damon had his own eye roll at his brother then turned to Elena. "Can I have this dance?"

"I would love to dance," she grinned, a mischievous look in her eyes. Looking at her boyfriend, she mirrored Damon's question. "Stefan, would you like to dance?"

"Why I would love to," he smiled warmly at his girlfriend, taking her by her hand to the dance floor, not bothering to look back at his brother.

I sighed exasperated at the poor guy. "Come on Romeo, I'll take pity on you. Even if you asked me last," I pretended to be offended at the thought. He smirked at me while taking my hand, leading me to the dance floor. "So other than Bonnie being a witch, what do you want from her?" I questioned.

"I… just wanted to mend bridges, that's all," Damon lied to me. I don't know when it happened, but I could tell when he lied now.

"Liar. You need something from her so you can open the tomb don't you?" I gauged him.

"You are scary perceptive, you know that?" Damon admitted lowly to me, bringing his mouth close to my ear. The act gave me goose bumps, so I pulled away quickly, trying to ignore it. He smirked happily at my reaction, and I just wanted to beat it off his face.

"So tell me, did you like the fifties? I can picture you in a greaser jacket, hitting on cute girls at the soda shop. Those were a thing right?" I attempted to change subject, trying look around for anyone suspicious. "Can't you guys sense each other or something?"

"Not how that works Sunshine," Damon tested out my newest nickname. "You know, for not being related by blood you and Elena are pretty similar. She just said the exact same thing to Stefan," he pointed out.

"Probably cause we've been close since I came into their lives. Blood or not, she's my sister and my best friend. Your brother hurts her, I'm gonna have to do the sister thing and stake him. Or at least give him really bad sunburns," I smirked. The tempo began to change to more up-beat, so I decided to spin myself away. He wanted to scan the dance floor anyway. I made my way to my sister, doing some awkward dance moves till I made it to her.

"So, how was your dance with Damon?" she asked over the music.

"Great, tried to get info about the fifties, you?" she smiled in response to my antics. We were alike and different in that sense. I used a lot of sarcasm, she spoke what was on her mind. We danced for a while longer, and I could feel myself starting to drag back down. "Man, I hope this jackass shows up soon, otherwise I'm gonna end up passed out on the bleachers and Stefan's going to have to carry me, because you don't want Damon near me." I watched closely to gauge Elena's expression. "I'm going to say this now. Damon and I aren't a thing, and I can handle myself Lena." She was the one person I could be completely honest with, and I did it often. Otherwise I might have spontaneously combusted.

Concerned look still on her face she sighed, "Fine, I just hope you know what you're doing." That was her way of warning me she could say 'I told you so' later. She probably would, but I wouldn't tell her that this time around.

A slow song started up after a few fast ones, and somehow I got spun back into Damon. "Why hello there sunshine," he smirked.

"Any sign of him?" I asked, ignoring his need to pretend to flirt with me.

"Nothing yet, but, you know, this hasn't been a complete bust," he half shrugged at me. "After all, I did get to dance with a pretty lady tonight."

"Funny, you're just making sure I don't collapse before we find him," I snarked back at him. "I did enjoy myself though. I got to get out with my sister and do something that didn't involve kidnapping." The tempo picked back up, but this time, I didn't let him skirt away. "Come on, show me a fifties move!" He pretended to contemplate it before swinging me around and dipping me over his leg, his face leaned closer to mine, blue eyes looking into mine for a second before I scrambled back up. "Good to know the fifties were all gymnasts," I huffed, out of breath. My pocket began to vibrate, signaling a text. "It's Elena, she says he's here," I told Damon, a new boost of adrenaline coursing through me. Damon took off from the dance floor, leaving me to find my sister. I caught her blue blouse exiting right as a man in a dark shirt followed after her. I pushed my way through the crowd desperately. I don't know how, but he got my sister alone, and I couldn't let that happen for long. Finally getting through the thick crowd of sweaty high schoolers, I made it to the hallway. I just caught the black shirt turning a corner, so desperately I sprinted forward. My sister could die if I didn't make it to her. I heard some crashes in the cafeteria so I burst through the doors, hoping to cause a distraction.

"ELENA!" I screamed, throwing out a ball of the light thingy ma-jig forward, not caring if it hit. I just needed him away from my sister. He used his vampire speed to come over to me after I singed his arm and lifted me off the ground by my throat.

"This doesn't concern you, Lisanna," he told me angrily. The fuck… who was Lisanna? My anger boiled over, I could feel my skin heat up under his hand until he had to let go of me. He pulled away like I had burned him, his skin healing from the sizzling I heard a moment ago. Cool, I have a new trick.

"Elena will _always_ be my business," I seethed. I didn't care about the name confusion. My only concern was to keep Elena safe. Finally the Calvary arrived. Stefan sped toward Elena while Damon picked up the broken mop handle from the ground. Elena must have tried to stake him herself.

"Relax, we just want to talk," Damon attempted. Good thing I knew when he lied. He flung the guy over to Stefan, then tossed the mop handle. Stefan took the opportunity to shove the stake deep into the guy's stomach, going upward under his rib cage. A little further and he could get to his heart. I rushed over to Elena, pulling her into a hug, and made sure she was okay.

"Why were you doing this?" Stefan interrogated.

"Because it's fun," the vampire bit out sarcastically. Stefan drove the stake deeper up his ribs, applying just enough pressure to hurt him a little more. "Because she looks like Katherine," he coughed out.

"You knew Katherine?" Damon asked him quizzically.

"You don't even remember me," he laughed through the pain. I didn't like this vamp, he needed to go.

"How do I get into the tomb?" Damon asked him, getting irritated.

"I don't know," he tried. Stefan pushed harder and the guy squirmed. "The-the journals! Johnathan Gilbert's journals, they'll tell you where the grimoire is." My head started to spin, I had over exerted myself much farther than I probably should have.

"Who were you working with?" Stefan started in again.

"I'll die before I tell you," the vampire spat out. I noticed the exchange between Damon and Stefan. The question on Stefan's face and the slight nod from Damon before Stefan drove the stake the rest of the way to his heart. Elena gasped, not liking the idea she just watched her boyfriend kill someone, vampire or not.

"He had to die," Stefan explained.

"But what about the people he was working with?" Elena asked confused. She thought they could have gotten more information out of him if they kept him alive longer. That also meant risking a divine hand interfering and him getting away.

"He was invited in, he had to die," Stefan tried again.

I felt myself start to sway, all energy and adrenaline finally leaving my body. "Guys, I don't… feel so good." From there I couldn't keep my eyes open, but I felt arms catch me before I hit the ground. Even with my eyes closed, everything felt like it was spinning, like on the rides from the county fair.

"Hey, she's burning up," Damon spoke above me, worry in his tone. Awe shucks, if I didn't feel like the world tilted on its side, I'd have half a mind to be flattered. "We need to get her to a hospital, right now."

"That… can't be good…" I croaked out. That's the last thing I remember before everything went black. I hoped this isn't a reoccurring theme here. I'd rather not be the feinting damsel thank you.


	5. Chapter 4

**(A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all of the favorites and follows! I even got a few reviews, and I appreciate all of them! This chapter took a while, mostly because it was hard for me to write the last six pages because I wasn't happy with it. Sorry if it gets conveyed anywhere in the story, and don't worry, Elijah is right around the corner this is just a slow burner story. I do have a few chapters written out that have all the action you could ask for, I just skipped ahead, and now have to write through the relatively boring parts. Remember everyone, if you favorite the story, you won't get an alert when I update, so make sure you follow it! Alright, onward.)**

Chapter 4

 _Tear You Apart- She Wants Revenge_

 _Dear Diary,_

 _It's been a few days since I was in the hospital. Apparently when I use my powers, I guess that's what we're calling that, and don't give myself time to recover or recharge… well it's not a good idea. I ran a really high fever and had to stay for a few days in the hospital during that time, but then when the sun came out, I felt good as new. Starting to think it isn't a coincidence that I feel better when the sun is out and kind of recharge. Plus flinging balls of sunlight at vampires is starting to give me a better hint. Aunt Jenna worried about me a little too much, so now I'm on house arrest for a while. Shame I couldn't be on house arrest from homework._

 _So much has happened these few days it's hard to tell where I should begin. Well, I guess here's one thing: The Tomb._

 _Jeremy's sort of new girlfriend (I think Anna was her name) went crazy and kidnapped Elena and Bonnie to get the tomb open. What is with everyone and not asking? Damon wanted to get in there too, manipulation and plotting definitely wasn't needed. Here's the kicker though, Katherine wasn't in the tomb. That must have blown a hole right through Damon's heart and I feel horrible for him. He can be a dick, but he's been looking for Katherine for a hundred years plus? She's a cold hearted bitch that needs staked in my opinion._

 _I digress. Now, apparently, there are tomb vampires all over the place and Pearl (Anna's mother that she went to the tomb for to begin with) can't seem to get them reigned in. It's scary not being able to leave the house. How can I help if I'm cooped up in here? Elena didn't tell me until after it happened but one of the T.V's (ha, see what I did there me?) kidnapped Stefan and had him all hung up on vervain ropes. She and Damon went all Mission Impossible 007 without me and got him out. Unfortunately, in order to save their asses, Elena had to have Stefan drink her blood. Having a purely 'vegetarian' vampire snack on your blood sounds like putting a recovering coke addict on the side streets of Vegas._

 _Oh and Damon. While I'm on that subject. He keeps coming over and pestering me while I'm on house arrest. Like I'm a puppy in the pet store he thinks he can come pet and then leave sitting by the window while everyone else gets to go free and go on adventures… and kill other vampires with our vampire hunting teacher… I might be a little salty about everything I missed._

 _The night he found out that Katherine wasn't in the tomb, he came here. That was all he said. He didn't need to say anything else, I could feel the heartbreak from my bed. So, being the girl that I am, I got up all wobble legged and awkwardly hugged him. I thought he would use his vampire strength and throw me off him, but he stood there for a moment and hugged me back. Everything he had done, everything he aimed for… was for nothing. When he left he whispered a small thank you and a feel better before disappearing into thin air. It wasn't a side of him I ever expected to see._

 _That tomb seemed to be the source of a lot of problems. Bonnie's Gran died that night they lifted the curse. Elena had been trapped in there with vampires, because fuck that little shit Anna, and Gran used up more than she had to make sure they got out. I can't even imagine what Bonnie is going through. I hope she knows we'll always be here for her…_

 _Guess Damon's here to give me hell again._

 _Signing off,_

 _Kyra_

I hurried to hide my journal when I felt a familiar presence at my back.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed Sunshine?" those ice blue eyes narrowed onto me. "How's house arrest treating you?"

I huffed, poking him in his chest, the other hand resting on my hip. "I'm only on house arrest because you tried to give me your blood to heal me and I ended up throwing it up all over the place. Aunt Jenna thought I had been throwing up my own blood instead of just over exerting myself. Jerk." I walked back toward my bed to sit next to the window, letting the sun shine on me happily. "Did you know she cut me off from coffee because you made the doctor think I got an ulcer?!" I seethed at the last bit. Out of all of the excuses he could have come up with, he did the one thing that might cause me to go on a murderous rampage.

"Now we wouldn't want that would we?" he smirked at me while pulling out one of the biggest take-away coffee cups I had ever seen.

My face lit up as I jumped across the room giving him a hug while snaking my arm up to the precious liquid. "Okay, you're my favorite vampire now." Settling back onto my bed, I sipped generously on the delicious drink. "What do you think happened anyway? Doesn't vampire blood usually work?"

"On humans, it's supposed to heal them," Damon shrugged, his hand trailing over my things like always. So nosey.

"Oh…"

"Or it could be something else," he tried to back track to make me feel better. "Listen Sparkles, don't worry about it, you probably just had an allergic reaction or something."

"Right, cause those happen," I snorted at the thought. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up though," I added when I found I had sounded ungrateful. He seemed… surprisingly okay that Katherine wasn't really in the tomb. Or at least he seemed to be taking it a lot better than expected. "Oh, and careful," I warned. "Our Uncle John is in town. He isn't exactly liked around this house hold."

Damon stopped for a second, thinking about what I mentioned. I could almost see the gears turning in his head. "Well," he spoke finally, "I guess that means me you won't be mad that I tried to kill him."

"YOU WHAT?!" I nearly screech at him. I was glad I didn't have a mouth full of coffee otherwise it'd be all over my comforter at that moment, and I would not be happy. "He is still my uncle!" I shot out, frustrated at the rash vampire in front of me. "He is still _Elena's_ uncle and he's still _Jeremy's_ uncle. You do not just try to kill people on a whim! Wait… what do you mean tried?" I wondered out loud, pausing in my rant. " _Damon_ what happened now?" I narrowed my eyes at him. I swear ever since these guys came into town it's been crazy situation after crazy situation. Maybe it's just Elena everything is coming after… nah…

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, he's still alive. He has the same ring Alaric does," he replied, still looking through my things.

I had to stop again for a second, piecing things together. "Wait… Are you trying to tell me," I took in a quick, irritated breath, "that you tried to kill my history teacher too?!"

"To be fair he tried to kill me first," Damon turned to me, attempting to defend himself.

"Why would he do that Damon? Did you do something? You always seem to give people a reason to try to kill you," I narrowed my eyes on him. "Jesus, I miss one week and all of this shit happens," I complained with a huff crossing my arms, careful of my coffee. "Are you the vampire that killed his wife?" I asked out of the blue. I had heard bits and pieces of it and Elena mentioned something about it before. "And Alaric's wife… is Elena's birthmother… Damn it Damon."

"Technically I turned her, and I didn't know about that last bit until after I tried to piss Alaric off at the bachelor auction thing," he kept snooping through my things. "You should wear this one," he pulled out one of my risqué sets of panties.

I jumped up and snatched it from his hand. "Give me that! Get out of my panty drawers you pervert. Back to my uncle cause I'd rather just not think about the other drama you caused, which by the way you need to apologize to Elena, big time for dragging her feelings in the mud." Reining myself in, I took a deep breath to focus my nagging, "So, what do you mean they didn't die?" I questioned forward, shoving my underwear back into its rightful place. This black haired blue eyed man was infuriating, sexy I'll admit, but infuriating.

"I mean technically, I killed them, but then they came back," he shrugged it off like it was nothing new. Maybe not for him but it definitely was for me. I moved my free coffee-less hand in a circular motion to try to coax more out of him before I had to beat his undead ass to death. "The ring they wear, it prevents them from being killed, for good anyway, by the supernatural. That's all I got."

"So, how did they get these rings?" I questioned anxiously. Dealing with vampire hunter type people wasn't high on my threshold of 'to do' list. My mind went blank trying to come up with the possibilities before Damon answered me.

"Apparently they're Gilbert family heirlooms," Damon responded, crossing his arms in front of me. "So I don't know how Alaric would get one."

How did my history teacher get one? It seemed too coincidental. There were too many connections between everything, I just needed to connect some imaginary dots. So let's start at the beginning. The rings are Gilbert family rings, probably dating back to the original founders. If that's the case, one could conclude that the original Bennett witch that put the spell on the tomb and the watch might have spelled the rings at some point too. So those rings have been passed down the Gilbert family line for a long time.

"You okay there Sparky? You're pacing," I vaguely heard Damon's voice.

"Shhh! I'm thinking!" I waved him off, returning to my accidental pace while sipping my brain juice. So… What was the connection between Alaric and Uncle John? "Hey… if that was a Gilbert ring… where did Alaric get his?" I questioned aloud.

"Why would I know that?" Damon bit back with a sarcastic irritation. You know, the usual.

"You know every important detail about potential enemies Damon, or at least you should. You research that kind of thing don't you?" I stopped pacing to give him a scalding look.

Damon rolled his eyes before reluctantly agreeing. "All right, fine. So I overheard Ric talking to your aunt one night, he got it from Isobel." That stopped me from pacing again. That's Elena's birth mother… "Speaking about Isobel, did your sister dearest tell you she went to dig up information on her?" I shook my head no, she kept me mostly up to date, but things were… hectic lately. She has her hands full with weaning Stefan off human blood again, and she's still learning how to deal with being adopted. "Apparently Isobel went to school here, and she isn't exactly keen on being found."

"What happened?" I froze at the thought.

"She sent a messenger telling Elena to stop trying to find her, who then proceeded to go play in traffic," Damon explained none too eloquently.

"Wait… if Isobel gave the ring to Ric… that means she must have got it from either Dad or Uncle John… You don't think…" I trailed off, not ready to finish the thought. That asshole was Elena's birth father?! My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a knock on my door. Damon hid before I could even say anything, taking my coffee with him, just in case.

"Hey Kyra, how are you feeling?" came my sister's voice on the other side of the door before she opened it.

I cracked a wide smile, having missed not going to school with her and talking to her like we usually did. "Great, the uh founder's pageant thing is today isn't it?" I questioned, motioning her into the room. "You haven't said much about it, are you okay?"

Elena sighed heavily, plopping herself down onto my bed. "I don't know… it's just… not the same without mom. She's supposed to be the one helping me get ready, and she was the one that was excited about all of this, and without her…" she paused for a minute, trying to piece her feelings together.

"It feels like you're just going through the motions, and it feels empty," attempted to help her put her feelings into words.

"Exactly. I know I still need to finish it, for her, but it's not like before," she finished off. Sitting down next to her, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder to offer comfort.

"Hey, at least you have a hot escort!" I smiled, trying to brighten her day again. She laughed at that one, though I saw she was still worried about her boyfriend. Of course, Damon also didn't tell her Stefan was still technically on human blood, possibly even going a little crazy over it. She had enough on her plate to deal with. I just hoped that Stefan was under control with his need for blood. I won't lie, I found it strange Damon told me and not her, but he probably needed to vent about it because despite everything he still cares about his brother. Not that he would openly admit it without being on his death bed. I couldn't help but think to myself, since when did we get so close?

"Yea…" she smiled softly toward me at the thought. She faltered for a second before asking, "Do… do you think Stefan's acting weird?"

That was a loaded question, I knew why, but I didn't want to stress her out. So I did what I could. "Do _you_ think he's acting weird? I've been cooped up in my room, so you would know best."

She seemed thoughtful at my answer, thinking it over before she answered me. "He seems… off… ever since he drank my blood how he acts feels different. I don't know, maybe I'm just over thinking it."

I heaved a sigh before putting a hand on her shoulder. "You know what mom always told us right? Always trust your gut, it tells you things that your head doesn't want to believe." I could see her think it over and decided to change subject. "But hey, you have the pageant today, you need to focus on that instead. Focus on something normal for once instead of this supernatural crap." She nodded in agreement, looking a little less stressed than when she first came in.

"You're right. One normal day and we can figure out everything else later. You always know what to say… maybe you should have a talk with Bonnie, she's been avoiding us and maybe you can use your all mighty wisdom," she added the last part with a laugh, attempting to lighten the mood again.

"Hey, my all mighty wisdom doesn't always mean it's listened to," I laughed at the image of me wearing a toga and holding an owl like the goddess Athena. I didn't want to ruin the mood again with serious talk, but one other thing needed to be said. "Have you talked to Jer?" I asked hopefully.

"About what?" Elena asked, feigning confusion.

"You being adopted," I answered back.

She paused before getting ready to leave my room, "Not yet… I haven't really had the chance with everything going on."

"Don't you think he'd rather hear it from you instead of accidently second hand? You know he's still your brother, and I know he'll still feel the same, so what's stopping you?" I inquired curiously. We had an outstanding habit together of procrastinating until the last possible moment, and I didn't want her to regret it this time around.

She threw herself back onto her bed frustrated with herself. "I don't know. I haven't really had the right time to tell him I guess."

"Nuh-uh, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon Lena. He is our brother and don't make him feel like any less than that," I scolded. Turning chipper again, I added, "Now get around, we'll be going to the pageant soon."

I heard a groan through the door as I left, feeling giddy. I had coffee, the sun was shining, what could go wrong today? Nearly skipping down the hall, I found myself stopped in front of a family photo. It had my parents, Elena, Jeremy, and me. I remembered the day we took the photo, crystal clear and crisp in my mind. We were outside at the lake house, sun shining and every one had a great time. Dad had thrown us kids into the water one by one, or when we got especially lippy, mom would even give us a shove in too.

And they were gone. They won't see our graduations, Elena's Founder's pageant, our prom… none of it. I didn't tell them enough how grateful I was to be a part of their family and giving me a home. They had told me over and over again, I just fit. They didn't see it as adoption, I was just one of theirs. I understood then why they didn't tell Elena. Why bring up what didn't matter? Granted no one threw it back in my face either, except once with Uncle John, but mom had promptly put him back in his place.

I bounced my way down the stairs, my mood boosted from thinking about how loved I was before they passed. As I entered the kitchen, I asked, "Aunt Jenna, can I get out today?"

"I'm glad you're feeling better Kyra," replied the voice I didn't want to hear.

"Uh… hi… Uncle John…"I trailed, not knowing how to respond. Way to get into the awkward zone already. He tended to be the only one to make me feel unwanted around here. I saw him carefully get some tea around, and I could already see where this was going from a mile away. While he thought I might take it as a sign of caring, we both knew he laced that drink with vervain to confirm any suspicion he might have had about me.

"Here, have some tea," he smiled a synthetic smile at me. "Your Aunt Jenna should be down soon."

Eying him warily, I took a long sip, making a pretend sigh of satisfaction before I added, "Mmm, vervain, my favorite, how did you know?"

He schooled his features to hold back any surprise. "Kyra, listen. I'm looking for something from our ancestry, and I need your help to get it. We need to protect Elena," he tried to push.

"Don't pretend it's for her benefit John, we both know better," I told him coldly. I didn't play this manipulation game, especially when it came to Elena. If he didn't know that I knew about everything before though, he knows now.

"What, afraid we'll figure out what you really are?" John switched to a threatening stance, trying to find chinks in my armor.

"Considering you spiked my tea, what _do_ you think I am? _Uncle_ John," I pushed back, no longer intimidated by him like in my earlier childhood. "I passed your little test, so obviously, I'm just as human as you are. I don't understand what you're trying to play at," I shrugged in earnest innocence. Hell I didn't even know what I was, and since he thought I'd be all sizzley after drinking that tea, he didn't know what I was either.

He smirked at me, not quite impressed, but more of an 'I'm onto you' kind of smug smirk that I wanted to knock off his face. "Oh don't worry, I'll figure it out soon enough."

"Creep," I whispered under my breath, deciding to take my leave.

Walking back into the living room I finally ran into Jenna. Aunt Jenna had been getting all of her things together, and some of the hair stuff needed for Elena for the pageant. She nearly darted out the door before I could wave her down.

"Oh, Kyra, shouldn't you be-" she started to reprimand me, but her focus was clearly anywhere but on me. This is good, distracted means I had higher chances of eliciting a 'yes' out of my requests.

"I'm fine now Aunt Jenna, please don't make me stay home again," I interrupted her, begging her to listen. "Plus I can help with Elena's hair," I added into my plea, dangling some bait for her to take.

She didn't have to think it over too long before finally nodding. "Alright, but go grab a dress. If I have to dress up, you have to dress up. Hurry and go get ready before Ric gets here," she shooed me up the stairs again. With a grin I bounded up the stairs and into my room. Elena had been getting her things together to get ready at the Lockewood house, so she seemed mostly ready.

"Lena! Help! I finally get off house arrest and need to get ready for the pageant thingy majig," I called down to her room. A moment later we had three different choices of dresses and some black strap heels. The choices were a deep blue that matched Aunt Jenna's dress style, a light purple that went to the knees in the front and the back of my ankles in the back, and a deep red halter dress that had a mermaid flare.

Elena looked between all three before pointing at the second one. "The purple really makes your green eyes pop. What do you want to do with your hair?"

"I was thinking wet waves, not too much work and then I can just pin it up fairly quickly," I shrugged. To be honest, I almost didn't think Aunt Jenna was going to let me out of the house yet, so all outfit coordinating had to be rushed.

It didn't take too long to be dressed and ready to go. Elena had her dress in a dry cleaning bag, ready for transport, so we were just waiting on Ric to get here. We made our way back down the stairs to see Uncle John adjusting the cuffs of his suit. Since when was he going? Oh… right, founder's event… he's part of the council and founding families… well shit. I guess it will still be easier to dodge him there as opposed to staying home.

Elena had her dress in hand while she opened the door to Ric who just arrived himself. He was dressed in a suit himself, spiffed up for the event at the Lockewood's house. With a heavy sigh that said everything that I wanted to say too, he took Elena's dress from her hands. Something else seemed to weigh on his mind before he finally asked, "Hey… uh… how's Stefan?"

A confused look crossed my sister's face before she asked, "What do you mean?"

"He seems… on edge lately," Alaric tried to be delicate. Something must have happened earlier then. This house arrest is killing me.

"Well, he went through a lot, and he was in pretty bad shape for a while, but he's bouncing back," Elena replied, wanting to believe the best in her boyfriend. The look on his face when she turned away spoke volumes to me. I hoped we didn't have a situation to deal with tonight. I really didn't want to end up back on house arrest again just because I had to save someone from my sister's boyfriend.

"Alaric, hey buddy. What are you doing here?" Uncle John asked mildly confused.

Holding up Elena's dress, Ric answered, "Well, I'm the Chauffer."

"Huh, I thought I was driving," he frowned. I almost felt bad for him. Almost.

Aunt Jenna gracefully descended the stairs, catching Ric's eyes in her silver dress even with her black coat over it. "No need, we're going with Ric," she told him curtly. She turned to us asking, "Are we ready?" When we nodded and started to head out the door, I heard her tell him, "Jeremy can ride with you." God did I love Aunt Jenna, but poor Jeremy.

We all climbed into Alaric's truck, and headed out. It was silent for a moment, a light rock tune playing on the radio when my Aunt finally turned to me, concern written on her face. "Are you sure you're okay? We can always take you back you know. "

"I'm fine Aunt Jenna, really. I've been holed up in my room way to long, and I need this. I need to get out of the house," I pleaded with her. All of this babying and confinement drove me to be stir crazy.

"Fine," she sighed, finally caving in. "But the moment you start feeling off, you let me know and we'll bring you home, got it? Jeremy already agreed to be my secret spy."

"Deal," I smiled. If I didn't feel loved before, I definitely felt it now. I knew the moment I became part of this family, I was blessed to be in it.

It didn't take long to arrive at the luxurious Lockewood Manor, home to the mayor and his family. The balcony that reached out over the gardens was what my dream house is made of. Not to mention the extensive shrubbery and winding stair cases. What I wouldn't give to have a home like this one day! Not that I didn't like my house, this one was just so enticing and elegant with its moldings and columns. Making our way up the decorated and thoroughly Christmas lighted stairs, we made it to the 'dressing room'.

I heard a light squeal before I saw her, and suddenly felt myself enveloped into a bone crushing hug. "Kyra! I'm so glad you're okay! And you're here! Wait, you aren't competing are you?" Caroline pulled back to look me in the eyes carefully.

"No Care-Bear, finally getting out of the house is all. Plus I promised Aunt Jenna to help with Lena's hair," I smiled happily at my friend. With everything going on, it started to feel like we had been losing touch. That was something I needed to make sure I fixed. I would not let friendships suffer because of this supernatural crap.

"Oh good!" she smiled half heartedly at me for a moment, trying to cover up what looked like jealousy. "Now I definitely don't have a chance if you're helping with her hair. You can always make the most perfect curls…"

I furrowed my brows. That's what she was worried about? "Care-Bear, you know you have the best chance at winning out of everyone right? Elena and I haven't been on top of all the community stuff like you have, and you've put so much work in for this. Sister duty dictates I need to cheer on my sister, but best friend duty says I need to cheer you on too. Remember, you got this okay?" She broke out into a happy grin at my encouragement, bringing me into another near bone crushing hug before she went to work on her makeup.

Setting Elena up in her spot, Aunt Jenna and I got to work. Elena worked on her makeup while we tackled her hair. "Thanks for helping me guys," Elena said gratefully. Her hair was really coming together, and with the occasional nudge to Jenna so she didn't burn her face I was proud of our work.

"Don't thank me until we're sure your hair isn't going to burn off," Aunt Jenna joked. We all had a chuckle at that, even if it made me side eye my aunt holding the curling iron while I wrestled with the bobby pins.

"You know, I remember when mom and I first signed up for this. She was so excited," Elena reminisced sadly.

"So were you, if I recall," Jenna smiled at her niece. Aunt Jenna must miss mom so much. I can't even imagine what I would do without Elena. She fought with another curl before I stepped over and handed her the bobby pins.

"I was. She just made it seem like so much fun, and now so much has changed," Elena sighed. Without mom, she just wasn't as into it as she would have been.

"Little late to back out now sis," I smiled softly, fixing another curl before handing it back over to Jenna.

"I don't want to back out, I just think it'd be enjoying it a lot more if she was here," Elena spoke, letting some of her wall down that she built up to hold in the pain of losing our parents. I gave her hand a tight squeeze before adding another well placed bobby pin.

"Your hair would stand a better chance if she was here. I can tell you that," Jenna joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Speak for yourself!" I exclaimed, almost offended.

After finishing up, Jenna left for the party and I stayed behind to help Elena with her dress. Getting into the dressing room, one of the other girls looked like she was having a panic attack. She reassured us she was fine, and just needed some air before she got dressed. As soon as she left, you wouldn't guess who showed up. Oh wait, yes you would, Damon!

"Damon, what are you doing here? I need to get dressed," Elena eyed him suspiciously, her dress in hand.

"We need to talk," he stared us down. The man looked good in a suit, I had to admit. Too bad he decided the worst possible time to tell her about his brother going ape shit over human blood.

"Can't it wait? I'm supposed to be getting ready," she waved her dress at him annoyed.

Damon heaved a sigh, steeling himself to break the news to Elena. "Normally I would have a completely different outlook on what I'm about to tell you, but since it could really inconvenience me, I'll… squeal," he paused in his pacing to straighten up with his hand on his tie like the idea pained him.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked, her confusion peaking through.

"Stefan's still drinking human blood," Damon spoke, almost like it had been in one breath.

"What?" Elena voiced her disbelief.

"Yea, a month ago, I would have rejoiced, but with the council back on high alert it is not a good time for Stefan to fly off the handle," Damon explained, the annoyed tone in his voice rising while the conversation continued.

Elena shook her head, not wanting to believe it herself. "Sure he's been edgy, but Stefan said that was normal."

"Elena," I tried to help her see the bigger picture. "He's been on animal blood for a long time. I'd probably wager it'd be the same kind of set back that a drug addict would have, only the drug is blood. Think about it," I pushed, helping her piece it together quicker. "He's been edgy and different right? You even said something earlier."

"Plus, you know, the stolen blood bank hidden in the fridge at the house," Damon said not so gently. With that information, she had to sit down from the shock. I ran a hand down my face trying to think of what to do. Damon didn't tell me it had become this bad. I paced for a second, always the helpful thinking tool, and he just continued. "Stefan doesn't know what's 'normal' anymore, his entire existence isn't normal. Normal to a vampire is drinking human blood, but he's spent all of this time fighting it when he should have been learning how to control it. Now it's controlling him instead," Damon reasoned. Well… he wasn't wrong per say, but not everything works the same for different people.

Elena shook her head, still unwilling to think Stefan could be going down that jagged path. "I just don't believe it. I mean this is Stefan we're talking about here," she stated, because knowing him like we do, this was completely out of his character.

"Stefan on human blood, Elena. He'll say anything, do anything, because he's not going to stop. Trust me," Damon urged my sister to see reason. Stefan was an unhinged blood addict, and we needed to figure out how to detox him. I could see it in Elena's face, she was finally listening to her gut on the subject.

Elena jumped up and started pacing with me, racking her brain for a solution. "This is all my fault, I was the one that gave him the blood in the first place," she panicked.

"Hey, it was either that or you both died. We'll figure it out, okay?" I reassured her carefully.

A knock at the door turned our attention to the man in question. "Uhh, what's going on here?" Stefan asked, confusion filtering across his face at the gathering in the room.

I looked at Damon, almost pleading not to say anything yet. Please don't start drama right before Elena's Miss Mystic Falls pageant. Normal, one normal day. Please don't start this intervention when we don't have the tools to deal with it yet. I am silently begging you with my eyes.

"Just filling them in on your extracurricular activities," Damon looked at his brother over his shoulder. Jesus Christ in a hand basket on Christmas, Damon. I closed my eyes in frustration.

"Tactful Damon, really fucking tactful," I whispered angrily.

Stefan just shook his head with a scoff, attempting to deny the truth. "What are you talking about?"

"I know about the blood Stefan," Elena jumped in, feeling confrontational.

I really wanted to smack my head against a wall now. Does no one understand how this works? Seriously? He's a vampire addicted to human blood right now. He will keep denying it, or say he has everything under control. Then he's going to feel cornered, probably take off, get angry, and start snacking on the next human he sees! He will spiral even further because someone who cares about him knows now and he wasn't the one to tell her. I understand my sister is feeling hurt and lied to because he didn't tell her he was having these problems, but taking it out on him now and being confrontational can only end in disaster.

So instead, since we were at the point of no return anyway, I decided to focus on the lovely vase next to the door with the prettiest flowers I'd seen in person. Mrs. Lockewood spares no expense I see. Such a lovely shade of purple flowers…

"I'll uh… I'll be downstairs, drinking…" Damon excused himself. I immediately latched on, using him to drag me out of the room and awkward situation. One thing I was sure of; Stefan wouldn't hurt my sister, even if he seemed a little unhinged.

Once we were out of range and in the throes of guests, I smacked him on the arm hard. "Damn it Damon, that's not how you go about that."

"What? She needed to know," he shrugged me off like he didn't just start a shit storm. "You look beautiful by the way."

"It could have waited- wait what?" I back tracked to what he just said.

"I said, Sparky, you… look… beautiful," he smirked down at my now bright red face with each punctuated word. "You're cute when you're flustered, you know that?" I glared up at him, despite the heat on my face. He sighed and said, "Relax. Everything will be fine. Enjoy some of your newly gained freedom, and save me a dance okay?"

I rolled my eyes, face finally cooling down when I heard the announcement that the event was about to start. Damon, ever the gentleman, escorted me over toward the stairs to watch my sister's entrance. Caroline looked stunning in her gown, being lead away by her escort that wasn't Matt Donavan (I really need to have a chat with that boy in those regards). Then my sister's name was called. I looked around for Stefan, he should have been where Caroline's escort just was, but he was nowhere in sight. Panicking, I pushed Damon forward to have him fill in. This is still my sister's moment, and I wouldn't let her be let down by her missing boyfriend.

I followed the pageant outside, basking in the warmth of the sun. The music started up and the group started their Founder's dance. I couldn't help myself when I stared longingly at the dance. It seemed like something so simple but fun to participate in and I would have liked to try it sometime. Watching the dance before me, I felt this niggling in the back of my mind. Almost as if I had seen it or done it once upon a time. Before I placed the feeling, the music stopped and the dancing ended.

Damon and Elena rushed over to me ready to talk on the new mission. Find Stefan. "Have you seen him yet?" Elena asked.

"No, but don't worry, we'll find him," I assured her. Looking around, there was just too much ground to cover if we stuck together. "We need to split up to cover more ground."

Damon took his turn to roll his eyes at me. "Yea, cause one of you two finding a vampire on the edge alone sounds like a great idea," he replied sarcastically.

"We have cell phones," I defended myself. "If we find him we don't approach unless we have to, deal? Besides, I am back to my old self you know, I have a means of defending myself."

"Only if you want to be on lockdown again," Elena pointed out.

"And Stefan wears a day ring, remember? I don't think your little sunlight trick will work on him so much," Damon pointed out to me.

"Eh, we'll burn that bridge when we cross it," I smiled light heartedly. "Aaaand break," I clapped my hands like we were in a football circle. Damon's face turned into a scowl at my disregard, but we didn't have time for that.

All three of us headed out into different directions, and I decided to take the front. The sun had already started to set, and a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach settled in. Walking up the gravel path of stones proved to be difficult in my heels, so I leaned against a car to take them off, hoping I wouldn't set off an alarm. During this, I heard a familiar voice talking, well nearly shouting at someone. I peaked over the car to see Stefan with the missing pageant girl. His stance was rigid and tense. The girl, I hop had been compelled, seemed awfully calm and compliant considering the blood coming from her neck. Wait… blood coming from her… shit… I whipped out my cell and hastily sent a text to Damon and Elena telling them I was out front near the parked cars. I could see Stefan become more agitated as the seconds ticked by, his pacing clued me in. Without waiting for the Calvary, I rushed forward before he could bite her again.

"Stefan!" I shouted, not my smartest idea, but distracting him could help stop him from killing someone. I'd rather do that than have someone lose their life.

"No, no, no, no, no," Stefan grabbed his head in his hand frustrated. "You weren't supposed to see. Elena… NO! I had it under control, everything was fine… but then… it's just so…" he rambled on, his eyes drifting back to the girl with the bleeding neck. "Just one more taste," I heard him whisper. His vampire speed placed him right next to the girl again.

"Stefan, no!" I shouted, shooting a ball of light at him. With his day ring, I wasn't entirely sure it would work anyway, but I had to try. Then I heard the grunt with the sound of sizzling. Not realizing I closed my eyes, I opened them to survey the damage. Stefan crouched low, clutching his burnt arm with a pained look on his face. Damon arrived with Elena shortly after with Stefan looking at the girl in horror. It didn't take him long to jet off in the direction that I hoped was the boarding house. I didn't get light headed this time, just tired.

"What happened?" Elena asked worriedly, gauging the scene.

"Stefan decided to take a snack, I blasted him with that light do-hicky, brought him back to his senses and now he's gone. I'm hoping to his house," I shrugged, not quite sure what to do from here.

Damon's eyes raked over me, as if he was searching for something. "How are you feeling?" he asked suddenly.

"I'm not going to pass out if that's what you're wondering. Barely even tired, promise. I think I just needed some recovery time from last time is all," I explained what he really meant to ask. He moved forward to compel the girl, and I took the opportunity to talk with Elena more. "You know what needs to be done right?" I asked her, worry lacing my tone.

Elena took a deep breath before nodding. "Yeah. I know. Thanks Ky, for stopping him."

"Pft, can't let my sister's boyfriend become homicidal can I? What kind of sister would that make me?" I tried to make light of the situation. She smiled at me, even if it didn't reach her eyes.

The rest of the night went by in a blur. Damon had gotten Sheriff Forbes, so an ambulance and police cars showed up no more than five minutes later. Elena and I pretended to huddle together under a blanket in shock while Damon smoothed out all of the details. Aunt Jenna of course started fretting over me and immediately insisted we go home so I can rest again. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. It's not like I was made of glass. I got to congratulate Caroline on her win before we left, truly happy for her. Before entering the house, I saw Elena talking with Alaric, and he handed her something. Vervain dart if I had any guess. Good, she did know what she had to do to help him get better.

I decided to take a long, hot, shower to clear my head. By clear my head, I mean spend an hour contemplating life, life choices, the universe, the supernatural, and what it meant when my little sun ball worked despite Stefan's day ring. Finally, I decided someone else might want to shower tonight, so I shut the water off and got ready for bed.

I didn't expect to see anyone tonight, let alone Damon again, so I had put on some simple pj bottoms and a tank top with a little paint stain in the corner. Guess who didn't get blessed with psychic abilities like my witchy friend? This girl! Entering my room, I jumped a good five feet when I saw Damon sitting on the edge of my bed.

"I'm buying you a bell," I glared at him. "How is everything? Stefan at home?" I went right into questioning him, closing my door behind me.

"Yeah, Elena hit him with a vervain dart and we locked him in the basement to detox," he informed me, standing up from his spot on my bed. "He'll get through it and be back to his broody self in no time." I sighed in relief at that. He inched closer to me, his blue eyes searched through my own green. His eyes were so hypnotizing, I almost didn't notice when he asked me again, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Trance broken, I briefly wondered how many times he asked me that before my usual hurried answer, "Yeah, no, I'm good. Promise."

Damon seemed to contemplate what to say next or do next. "Good," he spoke, pulling out his phone while pushing some buttons on it. "Cause you, owe me a dance, and I've come to collect."

I stared, mouth slightly agape. "Here? Now?"

"What better place to teach you that dance? Besides, you didn't get to have a normal night back, so, I thought I'd bring the old fashioned dance to you," he brushed it off like it was common knowledge. Why was he being so nice to me? My heart skipped a beat for a second at the thought of where this could be leading, but quickly killed it with fire in my head. This was Damon after all.

I decided to just play along and enjoy myself this time around. What's the worst that could happen? He bowed to me, and with a roll of my eyes, I curtseyed anyway. His eyes took me in again, the dance flowing naturally, even if I felt ridiculous in my pajamas. To be honest I really did enjoy myself, but near the end of the dance, something started to happen. It felt like I had two images overlapping in my vision, someone else's face forming over Damon's, and I had to force the fun to stop.

I shook my head clear, eyes focusing onto Damon's face again and his bright blue eyes. "Sorry, I guess I really am tired."

I could see Damon fighting with himself to ask me more, but instead, he decided to lean forward and place a kiss on my forehead. "Get some sleep Sparky, I'll see you tomorrow."


	6. Chapter 5

**(PLEASE READ THE A/N: Hey everyone! I'm so so so sorry that it took so long to update. This chapter was like pulling teeth and with school and work, I stopped for a bit, but I'm back! This is mostly a filler chapter to tide you over, but I'm already working on the next one, that will hopefully seg-way into who we're waiting for! That being said, my BETA doesn't have reliable internet right now, so I'll be posting right to fanfiction instead of sending it to her first to read over. If you see anything wrong or that could use more work, let me know! I want to hear it all! I'll also be re-uploading the first few chapters to fix a few things I found when I re-read them. Now, without further ado, the story! Also sorry it's kinda short, I wanted to get it updated asap, I hope one more chapter after this then the exciting stuff happens.)**

 **(Thank you for the follows/favs/reviews!)**

Chapter 5

 _Cold- Maroon 5_

Finally. After almost a week and a half, I got to go back to school. Now, most teenagers would love to be able to skip school like that, but after being trapped in that house with Uncle John… well let's just say I can't wait to stay at the boarding house with Elena tonight instead. I didn't feel comfortable with him in the house, and I'd prefer not to have a nightmare in his presence. Never show weakness to the enemy! I did however find out when I arrived back at school, that there were a few things I still needed to address.

Bonnie definitely needed someone level headed to talk to, and while I am friends with Stefan and Damon, she understands that I am an understanding, impartial, person that thinks considers everything rationally first. At least I hope she does. One way or another, we were going to have a chat.

Second docket to my list of things to do now that I'm back at school, is talk to that little brother of mine. Apparently he got a hold of his sister's journal, Elena's that is, and now he knows. Sort of… at least most of the information. He mostly understands that he had his memories taken away by Damon at some point, and he isn't exactly happy about that. Elena had enough to deal with back at the boarding house, so I've decided to tackle these problems one at a time.

Walking to my locker, the first problem almost slipped by me. "Bonnie!" I called out. I saw she wanted to keep going, but her better judgment made her stop and talk to me. "Hey, can we talk?"

"We have class Kyra," she didn't look me in the eyes.

"Fine," I huffed. "Lunch. Just me and you, okay?"

She looked up finally, and with a breath in, she nodded. Before she walked away, she added, "I'm glad you're feeling better Ky." I responded with a bright smile in kind. Well, until she added, "Oh and your Aunt Jenna told us not to let you have any coffee either."

"Don't speak such evil words you heathen!" I shouted at her retreating form. "Stupid Damon…" I grumbled, grabbing all my books for class. Problem one, on the way to being solved, or at the very least it was on the path to being cleared up. Problem two wanted to avoid me at all costs apparently. I almost didn't catch him ducking down the hall way. Almost that is. "Jer! Jeremy, wait!" I ran after him, grabbing his arm.

"Leave me alone Kyra," he spoke with an edge to his voice.

"No, I'm your sister Jer," I stood firmly, crossing my arms in defiance. "We need to talk about some things," I tried to reason with him.

"No, we don't," he disagreed vehemently. Danger Will Robinson, pissed off teenager. "You're just as bad as Elena."

"Hey," I tried again softer. "I just want a few minutes later at home, that's all. You're still my brother, and I want to tell you things probably not mentioned in Lena's diary."

He rolled his eyes, not buying any of it. "Why now? Isn't it a little late for that?"

"I can tell you _because_ you know. Please Jer," I pleaded. I didn't want to keep him in the dark anymore. Instead of just outright telling me no, he huffed and walked away, rolling his eyes. "I'll take it!" I called down after him.

Okay, that was harder than problem number one, but progress with a teenage boy is still progress. Now I just had to get through the class portions of the day, and then I can focus on the more important things. I think after talking with Jer after school, I needed to go to my special place. It's a secret place that only Elena and I go to when we need to breathe and process. When our parents died I would end up there a few times, and it's where Lena found me crying every so often when I didn't answer my phone. Of course, with vampires now not answering my phone might have a more sinister meaning than 'I'm just trying to think'.

Lunch rolled around just in time to pull me from my thoughts of solitude and allowed me to focus back on problem numero uno. Speaking of, she tensely waited for me at the end of the line, readying herself for our bound to be uncomfortable conversation.

"Outside?" I nodded to the door, wanting to soak up more sun before being crammed back into class for another three hours. Bonnie agreed and we made our way toward a tree on school grounds. She sat in the shade while I soaked up the sun. "So, what's got you avoiding Elena, and by proxy me?"

Bonnie heaved a weighted sigh, not wanting to have this conversation. "I blame them Kyra… I blame Stefan and Damon for Gram's death, and I can't make Elena choose between me and her boyfriend."

I took a breath in, sort of expecting that answer. "Are you blaming Stefan and Damon, or just all vampires?" Her silence answered my question for me. "You have every right to blame vampires, you've been hurt beyond measure by them."

"Wait… what?" she asked startled.

"It's a natural reaction," I bit into my pizza sub. After swallowing a bite, I added, "You're probably going to feel like that for a while, and that's okay. I just want you to think about something okay? Not every person with a lighter is going to burn down buildings as not every man is going to go out and rape someone. Not all humans are innocent either. I know you know these things Bon," I tried. Putting my food back down, I looked long and hard at my dear friend, trying to decipher her thoughts. "It might just take a while to see it, but that's okay. We'll always be here for you Bon."

She finally looked me in the eyes, the truth revealed. She tried to hide it, tried to put her anger into hating the vampires, but I could see in her eyes who she really blamed. "If those vampires never came here, then she might still be alive, Kyra." I leaned forward and enveloped my friend in a hug. Feeling her wet tears on my shoulder, I embraced her firmer.

"I wish I could have been there for you more through this. That's what friends are for," I told her gently, pulling away. "Just don't pull away Bon, especially not from Elena, then it just hurts you both more than either of you are willing to admit."

"It's weird you know," she gave a dry chuckle through a sniffle. "You're always so in tune with everyone."

"Who knows? Maybe it's part of my supernatural charm? Whatever I am anyway," I smiled, pulling away from the friendly hug. "Are you sure I'm not a witch?" I tried again hopefully. "Then we could do spells and stuff together. You could show me the ropes!"

"Sorry Ky, there's nothing like you and what you can do in Emily's grimoire. When you were in the hospital I spent all night looking through all of her and Gram's books trying to figure out what happened," she explained with a sad expression gracing her face.

Sighing, I sprawled myself on the ground, enjoying the rays despite the disappointment. "Oh well, we'll figure it out eventually. One day at a time right?" Pausing, looking through my hand into the sky I sat back up urgently. "I should practice that sun ball thingy majig!" I exclaim excitedly.

Bonnie's eyebrows shot to her hair line at the thought. "Kyra, didn't you just get off bed rest orders?"

Sitting back up with a grin, I replied, "Yea, but I have a theory I want to try out!" I watched the skeptical look cross her face while her eyes glared at me in her mother hen way. "Just hear me out… I've started to notice things that I didn't before. Whenever the sun is out I'm always way more energized and happy, not to mention pumped."

"Yea, the sun tends to do that to everyone Ky," Bonnie raised her brows at me.

"But as much as it does to me? You have to admit, it's a pretty drastic change between night and day with me. Not to mention when the sun didn't come out for weeks, do you remember that?" I tried to get her to see my point. "Plus whatever I'm doing seems to be based around light so it has to be tied in somehow."

With a heavy sigh, she gave in. "All right, but I still think you should wait another week to see how you're feeling. You really scared everyone Ky."

"I know. I didn't do it on purpose. It just kind of flew out of me the first time. Kind of like a natural instinct," I brought my legs together to sit cross legged again. The more I thought about it, the less I began to see it as a curse. I can help protect my family now. I can protect myself, even if I didn't understand it yet. "How did you feel Bonnie? When you found out you were a witch?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to put her thoughts into words for me. "I was scared at first to be honest. All of this weird stuff started happening, then the time Emily possessed me, it just really freaked me out you know?" I nodded, understanding what she intended to the T… well except for the possession part. "Then, when I started to learn more, I started to feel… I don't know… whole? Like there was an important piece of me that I didn't know I was missing. Plus, I don't feel so helpless anymore."

A contagious grin beamed toward my friend. "It's been a while since we talked like this Bon, I really missed this." She responded with a sad smile, regret barely lingering, but I could still see it. The bell rang before we could continue our private supernatural talk, but we covered our bases anyway. She just needed more time to come to terms with Grams death.

I considered this mission a success and we continued the rest of class for the day. With the sound of the final bell, I decided to just walk home without Elena to soak in the glorious sunlight that I craved last week. Plus, I still had plans to practice later, so I had to absorb as much UV light as possible… I wonder if I could scientifically explain this sort of thing… is it a form of photosynthesis? Am I some weird daffodil that shoots laser beams from my hands? Eh, probably not. Fifteen minutes later I sauntered into my room and plopped down onto my bed. Arms wide, minds still going through the probabilities of being some humanoid plant person without the chlorophyll, I heard the door across the hall close none too gently.

Standing back up from my bed, I had to ready my psyche. If Jeremy was one thing, he was the brooding embodiment of a teenage boy. His reasoning will always be right unless proven otherwise, no matter what anyone else says. I didn't expect to get through to him, but I did want to give him something to think about. Walking across the hall, I raised my hand, took a deep breath, and knocked.

"Go away," he called through the door shortly. "I don't want to talk to you Elena."

"Good thing I'm not Elena?" I said hopefully.

"Kyra? Aren't you supposed to be resting or catching up on homework or something?" he asked quizzically before opening the door. "If you didn't scare us all half to death, I wouldn't want to talk to you either."

I weighed my thoughts back and forth before stepping into his room and plopping myself down on his bed. "Fine, then talk _at_ me? Vent? Anything? Obviously you know stuff now, so I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?" I tried hopeful. Before he could speak again, I added, "Plus since I almost died, you should humor me."

Jeremy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms irritated. "Fine, but you're only allowed one near death experience leverage, got it?" He ran a hand through his hair before turning to me with anger flashing in his eyes. "Why should I trust anything you say anyway? Both of you lied to me, and you're no better than Elena."

"Because we're family. You know that when it comes down to it, you would have done the same thing," I shrugged. He went to open his mouth but I put a hand up to stop him and added, "Let me rephrase that before you say, 'I wouldn't take away your choice!'… If either one of us were in so much pain and suffering that we were going to go over the edge, would you do everything in your power to take away that pain?"

He stood there silent, not bothering to look at me, and his face contorted showing his inner war with himself. Finally he huffed and added less angrily, "Well, maybe, but you'd be just as mad, and you know it!"

"Yes. I would be, because the decision would have been taken from me, and I'd need time to cool down to realize, you did it out of love, not spite. Just like you need now. I'm only asking not to treat us like we're the enemy when you know we aren't," I added, leaning back comfortably. Smiling gently, I added, "Now that that's settled little brother, want to know why I really almost died?"

"It wasn't an ulcer?" he asked confused, his eye brows furrowed together like any other time he gets bewildered.

"Yeah… so turns out I'm not exactly human…" I went on to explain the past events that happened with him in the dark, including how the ulcer was a cover for not being able to take vampire blood. After getting everything out, I added, "So you better help sneak me coffee around Aunt Jenna, otherwise there might be blood, and it won't be mine."

"All right, fine, but you guys need to keep me in the loop now. No more mind control stuff," he pointed to me, face contorted into his 'no funny business' expression that he had when I played pranks on him when we were younger.

I raised my hands in defeat, smiling happily. "Hey, I thought it was a bad idea at first too." I stood up and backed my way back out of his room. Pattering my way back toward Elena's room, I allowed myself to let lose a content sigh. I popped my head into Lena's room, deciding to help ease some of her anxiety. "Hey, talked to Jer, he's coming around, just don't push him too much okay? He has every right to be angry, so just let him be angry for a little while. We're still family, remember that. Also, I suggest you tell him soonish about being adopted. Hearing something like that second-hand wouldn't help anything right now."

I saw my sister going back and forth between her dresser and closet grabbing clothes for however long it would take to get her boyfriend out of his state self deprecation. She didn't even pause when she spoke. "I know, and I will. It's just that, with everything going on right now I need to focus on one thing at a time you know?"

"I do, I just wanted to remind you," I said before adding with a snort, "just passing more of my all-knowing-wisdom down to those who need it most."

"Yes grandmother," Lena replied with snark. Finally packed, she turned to me in the door way. "You're coming too right? You can annoy Damon, get out of the house away from John, it'll be great."

"Yea, I'll head over later though okay? I wanted to go for a walk while the sun's still shining," I brushed off the 'grandmother' comment. The look of worry on her face prompted me to explain more. "I have my phone, fully charged, just for the occasion. I'll be fine for one little walk, promise." I didn't give her time to argue with me as I made my exit from her room. I grabbed my bag and made my way to the kitchen to stock up a water bottle. I threw on my tennis shoes with enough speed that Elena couldn't yell at me in her attempts to tell me how dangerous this could be or otherwise. She might call me a grandmother, but she's definitely the mother hen here.

I quickly made my way to the forest, enjoying the walk in the sun. I took a deep breath when I got there, inhaling the sweet smell of the trees and nearby flowers. The smell of wet dirt from the days of nonstop rain filled my senses with a feeling of peace. I needed this, craved it almost. With angry tomb vampires running around, a demented mystical creature phobic uncle at the house and my sister's off the handle broody boyfriend, this might not have been the safest idea, but for my mental stability it was the healthiest.

All these problematic issues ran to the front of my mind while I trudged off deeper into the woods. I had a special path leading to my own unique sanctuary. Everyone has one, for most pubescent teenage girls it'd be under a bridge littered with graffiti and profanity, but that's not what it was about. It's the tranquility that comes from the gentle rushing of the water around the strategically placed rocks that allowed someone to walk into them middle of the creek or river. The sickly sweet smell of the flowers that only seemed to grow in that one spot along the water. That feeling of safety among nature that breifly allowed someone the ability to breathe in deep, and use that place to feel tranquility in the storm of day to day life.

My spot, far away as it is, is free from the hooligan art décor, and does not have a bridge to sit idly under away from the sun's warm embrace. I don't come out as much as I used to. I had a moderately happy home life, so stress normally kept itself at a minimum level. However, with dear 'Uncle' John at home on top of everything else dramatic happening, I felt some breathing time was warranted.

I still tripped clumsily over rocks here and there, but it didn't take long to reach my mini haven. A small creek broken off from the main river flowed easily through the area, reaching just over five feet across and only coming to ankle deep. I had my thinking rock, at least that's what I named it, that sat on the edge. The rocks large enough size granted me the ability to lay back on it and still have my feet dangling over the side precariously. The large trees around the boulder provided shade, but rays of light always filtered through, giving my sanctum a magical feel to it whether it be green and lush with life, or red and orange with the change of fall. Home.

Jumping onto my rock, I decided to look at this sun-ball of death practice like a form of meditation. If I could concentrate enough and put it into focus, I felt like I could control it better. Come on Kyra, focus like a jedi. You can do this. I needed to do this.

The first hour had been frustrating and fruitless, not so much as a speck of light came out of my hand. The second hour I finally held this tiny ball of light in the palm of my hand. My theory on the sun giving me a power up proved correct, I barely felt any fatigue and I had been practicing for hours. I held the little light almost effortlessly within my grasp, trying to determine my next step.

"Should you really be doing that?" a voice broke me from my trance. To say I was startled wouldn't begin to cover it. I jumped high enough to fall from my perch on the stone and send the little ball of light flying into the air. I stood up quickly to find the offending voice's face, only to have an unfamiliar face flash before my eyes. I shook my head to clear my eyes and focused on the now recognizable man in front of me. "You okay there Sparky?"

"I'm fine," I waved him off like he didn't scare the shit out of me. I will get him a bell later. "How did you find me anyway Damon?"

"Oh, you know, followed the scent of stupidity at its finest," he glared at me icily, crossing his arms across his chest in a 'disappointed parent' manner. "You're familiar with it. It's the one that screams, 'I'm a teenage girl walking through the woods by myself, please come eat me tomb vampires!'"

"Shut up Edward, this is my space. My special place. Besides, I had my phone on me and fully charged. Not to mention the tomb vampires are in the completely opposite direction," I brushed off the rest of the dirt from my outfit, slightly irritated that he found me. "I needed some time away from that nut case of a so-called uncle." Shouldering my bag, I patted his shoulder when I walked by. "Let's head back, stalker."

Damon huffed indignantly toward me. I could practically feel his eyes rolling behind me. "I'm not a stalker, you can blame your sister!" he called out to my retreating figure. "And if you just answer her texts, I wouldn't have to come get your accident prone ass."

Someone was especially moody today. His tone spoke volumes to what he felt. "What's with the 'tude?" I asked with a sidelong glance once he reached my side.

"I just might have better things to do than babysit some hormonal teenager today," he stated, his tone increasing with his attitude. "Ever think of that?"

"Then don't," I bit back at him. "I didn't ask you to, did I? I'm not a child, and now I'm not defenseless either."

He stopped, a dangerous look crossing his face for a split second. "Right, because 'sunshine will protect you,'" he mocked me condescendingly. "Whatever, I don't have time for this," he spoke, using his vampire speed to throw me over his shoulder.

"Damon! Put me down! I'm not a sack of potatoes asshole," I yelled, beating his back with my fists.

The next thing I remember, I was being dropped on the couch in the Boarding House. I almost threw up from the sudden stop. Almost that is. I heatedly glared up to my captor, a silent rage beginning to boil. This hot and cold shit was growing tiresome, and I didn't want to put up with it today.

"You want time away from your Uncle? There, you can sleep on the couch. Instead," he drew out the last word venomously, "of gallivanting off in the woods where things go bump in the night."

I shot up from the couch, determined to get away from him. "It was daylight and I was fine Damon!" I yelled back at him. "ELENA!" I shouted out through house.

I heard some pattering from upstairs, and my sister came running down the stairs. "Kyra? What's going on?" she asked worriedly. Turning to the usual culprit, she added, "Damon, what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" he raised his hands in surrender, backing away from me. "I brought her back to the safety of the house like you wanted."

I rolled my eyes angrily. Picking up my things, I asked Elena tensely, "Are you good here? Do you need me here?"

Elena's face scrunched in slight confusion, but she replied, "Yea, I should be fine… why? Aren't you staying too?"

I shook my head, re-shouldering my bag. "If you don't need me, I'm going home. I'm sure you and Stefan will have much to talk about during his detox." I made my way to the door, pausing after I opened it. "And Damon," I faked a sickly sweet voice, "you can talk to me once you remove whatever stick was shoved up your ass today. Jackass," I slammed the door behind me when I finished with my malicious tone.

Elena crossed her arms on her side of the door, eyes narrowed on her least favorite vampire. "Seriously Damon?"

"What?! I didn't _actually_ do anything to her," he went toward his normal stash of bourbon.

"Must have done something if she'd rather be at home with Uncle John by herself instead of here. I thought you two were friends… or whatever you two are," she motioned to the door where her sister had just exited dramatically from.

"Gasp! I have friends?!" Damon faked surprise.

"Good job Damon," Elena congratulated him. "You single handedly pissed off one of the only people that give a shit if you died or not, and honestly, I don't know how you did it. I've never seen her slam a door, ever. So kudos. I'm going to check on your brother," Elena turned, no sympathy for the man behind him.

"It's not like she's never seen my attitude before!" he called after the other sister. "Females," he said the last part to himself, downing the last of his drink.

Why _did_ he piss me off today? Searching through our conversations, I came up with nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I'd just gotten used to him being… I don't know, I guess you could call it nice? His version of nice anyway. He just had that ability to get under your skin and fester like gangrene. I suppose that was harsh, but his two hundred year obsessions attested to his personality and festering seemed to be the best way to describe it sometimes. Something unhealthy and all consuming.

Sure, I can tell other people advise about their lives and be understanding. Now for myself? That's a completely different story!

Sighing heavily , I finally trudged my way up to my bedroom. I didn't bother with dinner, instead opting to get an early start on whatever sleep I could get. Elena wasn't here tonight to help me through my nightmares, so I had to make due on my own. I lost myself in thought, thinking back on the little ball of sunshine I made earlier. The sun had gone down at some point in my musings and I drifted off easily enough.

I liked that feeling right before dreaming. That weightless, emotionless, empty feeling which I know sounded depressing, but that's when I got the most rest, not to mention peace. Sometimes I wished for those nights of sleep the most. Shame it wasn't in the cards that night.

I knew it wasn't real. It didn't stop the fear that always came with these particular nightmares. They always _felt_ real. The pain, the scared child running away from people trying to hurt her, and the rapid pulse threatening to break through my rib cage.

Something began to shift in my nightmare. A soft touch and a gentle call of my name stirred me from the endless terror that haunted me in my sleep. My vision fogged over with sleep, I reached out instinctively. Elena must have come home. That's it. I buried my face into the body laying next to me, feeling an arm drape over my shoulders comfortingly.

"Elena," I yawned, "your voice has gotten, deeper…." I dozed peacefully, snuggled happily into who I thought was my sister. The voice just shushed me while stroking my hair. She must have hung out with Stefan or Damon right before coming home, she smelled like leather and cologne…. "You smell nice…" I breathed out, head fogging back into a dreamless state.


	7. Chapter 6

**(A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the reviews and follows! One more chapter after this and we'll finally get to meet Elijah. Sorry for the overdue wait, it was hard deciding where to cut the chapters and what seemed important to have. This chapter is kinda intense, and long so Wooo! The page was done at four in the morning and slightly sleep deprived, so if you see anything that needs changed or any suggestions send me a pm!)**

Chapter 6

 _Shatter Me- Lindsey Stirling ft Izzy Hale_

 _Dear Diary_

 _It's been a few days since my little… fight? Would it be considered a fight? Whatever, we'll go with that. Anyway it's been a few days since that little skirmish with Damon. Now it's like nothing even happened! I'm probably reading too much into it, this just seems to be our norm of pissing each other off._

 _Not too much has happened, so this will be shorter than normal._

 _Well, other than Elena's biological mother wanting to meet her out of the blue. That must have shocked the hell out of poor Alaric. She appeared out of the blue and asked him to arrange a meeting with her. I didn't like it one bit. Not with the theatrics she's already pulled on my poor sister. She met with Elena alone in at the grill, thankfully Stefan stayed within reach just in case anyway. Oh! And Stefan is back to his normal self too, so we have that going for us._

 _I wanted to be there with Elena, but she made herself clear that she didn't want Isobel to know about me, at least about the supernatural part of me anyway. Pretty sure the ship has sailed on that one, but I won't get into that. After threatening friends and family, Is-a-bitch finally got what she wanted: Our family vampire weapon compass thing. What another vampire would want with it is beyond me, but she broke Matt's arm and kidnapped Jeremy to get it._

 _The upside is we got Bonnie to 'de-spell' it. I hope she really did, since she's still on her 'hatred toward all vampires' schtick. I am a little ticked off at Bonnie and Elena for keeping me out of the loop through that ordeal, but I guess Elena knew I wouldn't be able to stand by and let her birth mother keep hurting her like she was._

 _Last problem to vent about: Uncle John._

 _Damon thinks he's Elena's father too. I can't_ not _tell her. I just don't know how to bring it up…_

 _Well Aunt Jenna's gonna be busy getting Elena ready for more founder's stuff, so I'm gonna sneak the coffee while I can! Write again soon!_

 _Oh! And I practiced more, so it's getting easier to control my little photosynthesis sunlight stuff. Not to mention it's not taking as much out of me anymore either!_

 _-Kyra_

Fully dressed and already peppy for the day, I bounced my way down the stairs headed straight for the coffee pot. Jer still avoided Elena like the plague, but he wasn't as hostile. She still needed to talk to him about being adopted, but baby steps. I had my own secret that I needed to talk to Lena about, so I can't be hypocritical. Humming a tune that popped into my head, I turned in time to see the devil appear himself.

"Aren't you supposed to stay away from that stuff?" John asked me with a raised brow.

Eying him suspiciously, I asked, "Are you gonna squeal?"

"Nope, just showing concern," he held up his hands in defeat.

"Riiiiiight," I drawled, taking a long drink from my heavenly goodness. "You don't have to force yourself to pretend, I'm not ten years old anymore…"

John sighed heavily, something akin to guilt showed in his eyes. "Listen, Kyra, I know it doesn't seem like it all the time, I'm just trying-"

"Too keep your daughter safe," I finished for him, giving him a smug smirk when I saw him blanch. Stepping closer to the kitchen island, coffee never leaving my hand, I decided to play further. "I didn't get it at first, your sudden appearance. Then I thought about it, the other dots already connected what with Isobel being Elena's mother and Alaric having the same kind of ring you do. What could possibly make you come back into town? I get it though, can't have your daughter by birth dating a vampire."

He composed himself, despite the color completely drained from his face. Carefully, he cleared his throat, thinking of how to proceed. "You're smarter than you look. Then you also know, that I would do anything to protect her."

"The _you_ should know, this is my home. Everyone in this house is my family, even though it's not by blood, and that will _never_ change," I explained, my tone holding an underlying threat in it. I turned and put my mug in the sink before I added, "She doesn't know. Not yet anyway."

There was a tense pause until he replied, "Thanks for the warning."

Jenna bounded into the kitchen, dispelling the unpleasant atmosphere with her own narrowed eyes. "Kyra Lissa Gilbert! You get away from that coffee pot!"

"Crap," I muttered to myself. "Uh… See you at the parade Aunt Jen!" I practically sprinted out of the door. "Caroline needs help mediating!" I called one final excuse behind before leaping to freedom in the sun. I practically danced halfway to the school when a familiar Camero pulled up next to me.

Damon slowed down next to me, eyes covered by sunglasses. "Hey Sparky, hop on in, I'll give you a ride." I couldn't help but eye him suspiciously. We didn't exactly make up, but we weren't exactly on good terms either. He just _acts_ like our little snippet didn't happen. "Come on," he enunciated with a whine in his voice. "Look, I'm sorry I was such a dick last time. Chalk it up to," he paused trying to think of a reason, "stress! Come on, I miss my partner in crime," He flashed me his pearly whites, so with a sigh, I agreed and hoped in.

"Apology accepted. Is Stefan already there?" I asked, trying to fill the silence.

"Aw, does the other sister have a crush on Mr. Broody Stuffy Pants?" Damon ended on a cutesy note.

I wrinkled my nose in slight disgust at the thought. "Ew, no offense to Elena, but Stefan isn't really my type."

"Then who is your type?" he raised his eye brow, combined with his trademark sexy smirk. "Cause you know, we have some time-"

"Shut up Damon," I deadpanned, getting used to the constant flirting that embodied the vampire next to me. "I just wanted to see if he'd help me break the news to Elena about John."

He looked mildly offended when he asked, "But why Stefan? I can help too."

I rubbed my temples, trying to think of how to break it to him. "This needs less of a wrecking ball touch, and more of a gentler break the news sort of thing. No offense, but you aren't very good at that sort of thing."

"Why not? It'll be like ripping off a band aid, painful but quick," he pushed as we pulled into the school parking lot, filled with students and floats.

I sighed, stepping out of the vehicle. "Maybe because I know my sister? I don't want her to go into shock. Just, please Damon, promise me you'll let us handle it?"

"Handle what?" Stefan appeared out of NOWHERE. Seriously, do either of them know how to give a girl a little warning?

"Christ in a hand basket Stefan! I expect that from Damon, not you!" I scolded, clutching my chest. Straightening myself, I added, "And we're talking about breaking the news about Elena's birth father, I was hoping you'd help. Of course, I'm also assuming that Damon discussed it with you to gloat in some, Damon-y gloating way."

Stefan started to say something, but stopped for a moment. "You know, I think you've been spending too much time with him."

I watched Damon glare at me out of the corner of my eye. I smirked back and added, "I knew it. Damon loves to gloat over stuff he knows." Elena started walking toward us, smile on her face, and I felt bad for what was about to happen. "Okay, now shoo Damon, I'll meet up with you again in a bit." He bowed mockingly with a smug look on his face before he disappeared into the crowd.

"Hey guys, is everything okay?" she asked, her smile faltering. She looked stunning in her old time attire. I did not envy her in that corset though. I value the ability to breathe being unimpeded.

"There's something you should know Lena…" I trailed, not knowing how to get it out.

"Jonathan Gilbert is your biological father," Stefan blurted out. I smacked my forehead at the subtlety. "What? Better than having Damon do it with his usual grace."

"Yea, sure… I'm don't know why I keep trying at this point," I sighed.

Elena's face screamed confusion. "Wait… What?"

"Uncle John was dating Isobel when she was fifteen. Alaric, Isobel's wife, has one of the Gilbert Family rings. Who do you think gave it to her?" I explained, gauging Elena's expression.

"I did some digging myself. Jonathan was the one that took Isobel to your father's clinic the night you were born. It all adds up Elena," Stefan added to my argument. She needed to know before John did anything else shady.

Elena shook her head at the thought of _him_ being her biological father. "No, I believe you. I just can't believe that he's been in my life this entire time. I don't even like the guy," she sounded almost sad at the afterthought. It's not her fault her birth father was a class A douche bag. "What am I supposed to do? Do I just confront him and say, 'Are you my biological father?'"

"I guess when you're ready," Stefan said, being the supportive boyfriend.

I reached forward, taking hold of my sister's shoulder. "Listen, you don't have to do anything you aren't ready to. Remember that," I assured her.

"But I'm never going to be ready. Guys, I have enough problems with the family that I _actually_ care about. Jeremy hates me, and why wouldn't he? My journal gave him every single reason to," Elena confided in us. Jeremy still hadn't come around, but it had only been a few days since that slice of this giant drama pie.

I rolled my eyes at my sister. Stefan beat me to the punch of comforting her. "He's just hurt. He's confused."

I gave her shoulder a light push in response. "He just needs more time Lena. He's just as mad at me for letting it happen. Just focus on having fun today. Founder's day festival and stuffy parade and all," I sent her a horrible wink that got her to giggle.

I used that as my chance to excuse myself to give my sister and her boyfriend some privacy. They just got back on even footing, they deserved some extra time alone together. Looking around with searching eyes, I finally found my targets. I jogged the few feet it took to get up to the bubbly, bouncing, blonde and her boyfriend in an arm cast. At least, I think they were together? I was really bad at keeping track of Caroline, and that made me an even worse friend.

"You look great Care!" I called out, sneaking up next to Bonnie, mid photography session.

"Thank you Kyra!" Caroline beamed at me, happiness shining in her eyes. "I feel like we haven't seen much of each other, like, at all lately," she pouted at me. "But I know it's not your fault, what with the almost dying thing," she paused at her own sentence, and I could tell she didn't mean for it to come out like that. "I'm sorry! That's not what I-"

"Caroline! It's fine, really," I chastised her half-heartedly. "How about a movie weekend soon? It's your movie pick this time right?" I attempted to bribe her with sleepovers and corny movies.

She nodded in satisfaction at the idea. That was when I noticed a mischievous look cross her features. "Yea, then we can talk about, you know, boys and stuff. Like what's going on with you and Damon," she wagged her eye brows suggestively.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, completely oblivious to her meaning.

Caroline rolled her eyes, exasperated with me. "You can deny it all you want, but he's different with you, and I _will_ get the truth out of you movie weekend. Now come on, I want to take a picture with you and Bonnie," she grinned, ushering us over to her and pushing the camera onto poor Mattie.

Right after we got into position, Tyler came over to offer his help. Matt then proceeded to icily refuse him with one of the worst cold shoulders I had ever witnessed. Huh… trouble in the bromance paradise? I must have missed something of epic proportions for those two to fight like that.

"I said I was sorry!" Tyler called out to him, forgetting about the picture completely.

Caroline sighed next to us and moved forward to get the camera back. "You made out with his mom and then beat him to a pulp. You're gonna have to do better than 'sorry'."

My eyes bugged out momentarily at the reveal of the answer to my initial question. Attempting to pull myself together in a dignified way, I asked, "The hell did I miss?!"

Bonnie chuckled at my response in her good nature way when she patted me on the arm comfortingly. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm sure Care will fill you in later." I shuddered in response. I don't think I wanted to know anyway. "Come on, we should head out, they're getting ready for the parade," She linked her arm in mine to guide me away from whatever drama I had missed while wrapped up in my sister's own complicated life.

We made our way downtown, making small talk here and there, but I could tell she was being kind of edgy. She must regret de-spelling the Gilbert device for us. I knew she was on the fence about it to begin with, but I'm glad she did it. I don't know what Elena would do if she lost Stefan too. Thinking back on the device, I had random thoughts sprinkle through my mind.

"Hey Bonnie, remember reading about the device?" I questioned my friend, not actually meaning it to go anywhere. "Did the journal say that it affected just vampires or all non humans?" I pondered out loud. "I wonder if it would have done something to me," I questioned when the parade started. "Thank god you dispelled that spell then right?" I laughed to myself. Bonnie wouldn't do something like that right? I mean we talked through her differences, and I helped her put everything in perspective.

My sister's float started to coast by and she, Stefan, Caroline, and Mattie all sent us a wave and a smile. Damon stepped in front of us to give his brother a smug wave. Even from behind him I saw that he was trying to push their buttons. Bonnie rolled her eyes at the display, still holding a deep hate for the vampire in front of her.

Damon turned around to get her attention, flashing me one of his devilish smiles. Bonnie stared him down, not bothering to hide her dislike of him. If it wasn't for the fact I knew she very well could light this man on fire, I felt like she was trying to burn him with her mind.

"What do you want Damon?" she asked heatedly.

"Nothing just enjoying the parade," he shrugged her off. Bonnie caught my hand in a firm grip, pulling me away with her. "Hey, where are you going?" he questioned, following whichever way Bonnie decided to drag me.

"Away from you," she glared back at him.

"I want to say something to you," he started. His stance at first glance seemed threatening.

"Just leave me alone," Bonnie pursed her lips, pushing me behind her. Stop being weird Bonnie, Damon's had some rough patches sure, but he's been decently helpful lately.

"Thank you," Damon said in an uncharacteristic show of gratitude. "The device that Emily spelled could have killed me, and I don't take what you did lightly, so, thank you."

She looked at him, a guarded expression on her face. "I did it for Elena and Kyra," she attempted to brush off his thanks. What was up with her? She wasn't acting like herself. Normally I was pretty good at reading my friends, but I didn't really know what was up with her.

"I know that, and I am still very grateful," he pushed his gratitude onto her. He sounded sincere and I smiled at the thought. Maybe Damon was beginning to be an okay guy. Deep, deep, deep, deep down there. "And," he looked like he swallowed something sour for a second as he added, "I owe you. Enjoy the parade."

Damon walked away on that note, shooting me one of his trademark smirks when I found myself grinning back to him. I mouthed a 'proud of you' to him before he turned away.

"That was nice of him. Maybe he's not so bad," I smiled at Bonnie who just had a dumbstruck look on her face. I knew better than to dwell on that idea too long, she might give herself an aneurism. "Oh, so I know you told me to wait a while longer, but I've been practicing. Before you say anything all 'mother-hen' like just listen to what I found out. Please?"

Bonnie nodded, a look of irritation in her eyes, but she didn't say anything. She was definitely the mother hen type.

"The sunlight really does recharge me. I practiced for hours and didn't feel my energy get sapped or completely drained at all! Do you think I'm some weird plant creature or something?" I voiced my earlier thoughts from the day before. It had been eating away at me. Maybe I should take some skin shavings to a biologist or something of the like.

Bonnie rolled her eyes at my question, taking it like a grain of salt. "No Kyra, you're probably not some weird plant creature thing. I'll keep looking through the Grimoires at home, so don't worry about it too much."

I sighed, but turned back to enjoy the parade. "That's what people keep telling me," I grumbled. Don't worry about it; is that all people can tell me? I get there's nothing I can do about it, but it was already hard enough not knowing the first nine years of my life as it were.

Once the parade ended, I headed to The Grill for some food and relaxation time. I didn't mind just fading into the background once in a while to just people watch instead of interact. Eventually Jeremy walked in and sat as far away from me as he could. He must have still been conflicted. He'll get over it eventually. Elena walked in shortly after, and started chatting with Damon. Huh, they don't usually talk but they seem to be civil so far. Then of course, she had to turn her attention to our little brother. Oh Elena sweetie, please don't pester a teenage boy while eating, that's dangerous in its own right.

Taking my queue, I stood up from my spot in the back and made my way toward my family. I caught what Elena said, something about being able to fix the rift between them, then Jeremy got angry and went to get up to leave.

"Jeremy, just hang on a sec will you?" I called out exasperated. He turned and shot me a dirty look. Okay, this looked like I hadn't resolved our issues yet.

"No, you had just as big a part as Elena. And you kept all of that stuff going on with you from me too, just leave me alone, both of you." he stormed out the door. I had thought we had gotten through that, but now I didn't know.

Damon took a quick look at my crest fallen face and went after our brother, leaving Elena and I behind. I decided to switch the subject to something else that held my curiosity. "So what were you and Damon talking about?"

"Just telling him to watch himself if he expects us to be friends," she replied with a shrug. "If he's going to be hanging around more, I wanted to be clear he knew what we expected."

"He's still going to be the same old flirty Damon though. How does Stefan deal with that anyway? It's probably a rough place considering the whole, Katherine thing and all," I thought out loud. It was an annoying habit sometimes,

Elena did one of those deep breathes she usually takes when she was on the verge of annoyance. "Oh the usual 'Jealous boyfriend' way, by threatening him. But-" she stopped, trying to find the right words to tell me. She probably thought it was something I didn't want to hear. "Stefan's more concerned with how much he's been hanging out with you…" she trailed, the suggestion out in the air.

"What do you mean?" I asked completely oblivious.

Elena took a deep breath in, like she was going to break some bad news to me. She looked me in the eyes and asked, "Nothing's going on between you and Damon? Nothing at all?"

"I mean, we had that little scuffle, but we're still friends," I pursed my lips in thought.

"That's not what I meant Ky. Stefan and I talked about it, and we think that maybe… Damon has… you know, feelings for you," Elena winced as she said it, thinking I'd take it badly.

I laughed at the thought. Damon, having feelings for me of all people. Ha! "Good one! You and Caroline are hilarious you know that?"

Elena gave me a long drawn out sigh, obviously thinking I must be blind. "Well, Stefan still threatened bodily harm on your behalf, so."

I rolled my eyes at the thought. "Boys," I muttered. Elena laughed at my mumbling and grumbling in good humor, and we made our way back outside to soak up more of the sun before it became dark enough for the fireworks.

We walked through the crowd, mingling and rejoined Stefan. Everything seemed like it would be an uneventful night. The crisp air that came with the calm starless night from being in town relaxed me. I think it was what I liked about these events, everyone out, having fun together and celebrating a tradition. Maybe I didn't have to worry about anything more tonight, I might even get to snag some alcohol and try to get drunk again to let loose. Oh how I hate jinxing myself, I just wish it had been about the alcohol. Elena and Stefan were walking next to me hand in hand when Damon found us with a look of irritation and… worry? That wasn't a good sign when Damon was worried. He quickly grabbed my hand to look natural, bringing my hand up to his chest.

"Damon, what are you doing?" Elena eyed him for me.

He looked around nervously before he addressed us. "Saving your life. Fifteen words or less, tomb vamps are here, target is founding families. Get them out of here, now," he stated before letting go of my hand to disappear to god knows where.

"Wait, where are you going?" Stefan called after his retreating form.

"That's more than fifteen words!" he yelled back, disappearing.

Stefan went to walk us away from the festival when Elena stopped him. "Wait, Jeremy's still here somewhere."

He looked between me and Elena until he came to a quick decision. "Alright, let's go find him."

"I'll split off and look, it'll be faster, have your phones ready!" I nodded, taking off before Elena or Stefan could stop me. There was one other person I wanted to find too: Uncle John. He needed to know what was happening and what Bonnie did to the device.

I sprinted through the crowd of people, ducking and weaving to avoid slamming into anyone. Mayor Lockewood was just about to end his speech when I noticed a figure in one of the shops owned by the Gilbert family. That had to have been where Uncle John set up base.

I burst through the door, panting and out of breath. "Uncle John, we have a problem."

Damon came through the door right behind me, he must have had the same idea. "I thought I told you to get out of here," he scolded me right away.

"And you should have listened," John agreed eerily. "Now I can't help what happens next."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" Damon yelled at him, making his advance.

"Oh I'm well aware," John smiled wickedly at the progressing vampire, making a movement with his hands.

Then the high pitched scraping in my brain began. I couldn't begin to explain the pain that erupted through my eardrums at the sound as I was brought to my knees. I know I cried out in pain, but I almost couldn't hear it. It sounded like I was underwater but with the pressure of being up in an airplane. John walked over Damon to me after shooting him with vervain, and I almost couldn't make out the strained conversation between the two.

"She's your niece!" Damon shouted over the pain.

"By misguided paperwork only. I don't know what she is, but she isn't human," John looked down on me with pity in his eyes. The tears from the pain and betrayal streamed down my face against my will, and I couldn't stop them if I tried. I thought we had reached an accord between us. I didn't know his hate ran this deep.

My vision went in and out when the ringing wouldn't stop. In a futile attempt to stop the noise, I covered my ears only to feel a wet substance pouring from them. Good, cause bleeding eardrums was what I needed on top of everything else.

"Put them in the basement," John ordered some of the deputies that had walked in.

Needless to say, I may have blacked out for a bit. I came too and the ringing had finally stopped. I vaguely wondered if that was what dogs felt when a dog whistle was blown. I started to shift around and found Damon rolled partially on top of me, almost like a vampire shield. I groaned and rolled him off of me carefully. I could smell smoke and feel heat. Great, my dear Uncle wanted to burn us alive.

"Kyra, you okay?" Damon asked me, exhaustion evident in his voice. Just how much vervain did he get dosed with?!

"Yea," I coughed, trying to rid my lungs of the impending smoke. I pushed myself up, trying to figure out a way out of the mess we were in. There were stairs, but there was no way we'd make it up them without either one of us catching on fire. "Come on Damon, upsie-daisy," I hoisted his arm around my neck to lift him to a relatively standing position.

That's when the Calvary arrived. Stefan burst through the door like an angel bursting through hells gates to rescue two unfortunate souls from eternal torture. He looked between us, noticeably surprised I was there and unsure of who to take. I practically threw his brother at him.

"Take him, I'll follow. I don't have vervain in my system," I rationed. With a pained look on his face, he took Damon and vampire sped out. I, myself, made a mad dash for the stairs, only to be tripped by one of the tomb vampires. "Get the fuck off me!" I screeched at him, shooting a ball of light powerful enough to disintegrate his entire face. Great, first kill, family issues, and fire just all went lovely together I think.

I barely made it out the door before whatever kept the fire from consuming the stairs stopped working. I crashed through the door and tumbled to the ground, coughing up my lungs to cleanse them of the toxic smoke emitted through the burning building.

"Kyra, here, hold onto me," I heard Stefan back at my side. I reached up gingerly, nearly in the same position I had Damon in moments ago, and he helped me get away from the building. Elena immediately took me into her arms while she was on the verge of tears.

"Oh my god, Kyra, what happened? You just disappeared and if anything had happened to you I just-" she blubbered on for a minute. I let it sink in for her that I was fine before I interrupted her emotionally distressed rambling.

I hugged her back firmly first. "I'm fine Lana, promise. Uncle John wants me dead though, so we have that problem to deal with later," I explained bitterly, wiping a stream of soot off my cheek. "I don't think that device was just meant for vampires. Mayor Lockwood's body is down there too, and that thing nearly knocked me completely unconscious."

Stefan's brow furrowed in confusion and surprise. "The mayor was down there?"

"Yea, so there has to be more that we're missing. Can we head to The Grill or something? Get out of here before we draw attention," I motioned, keeping an arm around Elena's shoulder for support.

She eyed me suspiciously when I put some of my weight on her on our way to The Grill. "Are you sure you're okay Ky? Stefan, help me get her to a table." My sister and her boyfriend set me gently into a booth and I let out a breath of relief.

I waved her off, in my usual 'don't worry about it' fashion. "On my way up I got tripped up by a vampire and he got a sun ball to the face, that's all. Which by the way, killed my first vampire, so… that was not so fun."

Elena's eyebrows hit her hairline and she decided to be mother hen again. "Stefan, can you go get information about what's going on with the fire? I want us to be prepared for when we get home. I'm gonna get her something to drink. Do you want something with sugar or…"

"Yea, that'll be fine," I smiled at her concern. She really sprung into action when she needed to. So I sat there useless for a time, just trying to regain my strength again. Not going to lie, I was pretty done with this night.

With the boost of sugar and Stefan back to give us the down low, I noticed we were missing part of our little group. "Where's Damon?" I asked suddenly after Stefan explained the fire was deemed as 'faulty wiring'.

"He disappeared after we got you outside," Stefan replied. The two proceeded to have a mushy couple moment I tried not to gag at.

"I'm going to the school to pick up my dress and then head home to check on Jeremy. Are you going to be okay or did you want to come with?" Elena asked, silently judging if I really could get around on my own at this point.

I thought about it for a second, then stood up to test my durability. "No I should be fine. I'll head home, you two go ahead and go get your stuff, have more 'no I love you more' sugary sweet moments," I teased the two of t hem.

"Yea, you're definitely fine," Elena rolled her eyes, but she still smiled anyway. "See you at home!"

I exited the building and headed home alone in the dark. This seemed like a reoccurring theme here. I was thinking, get home, make sure Jeremy was okay, then crash on my bed as best course of action. Over half way home, I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up once more. Someone watched me from the dark, I could feel it in my soul. The feeling sent shivers through me and a sense of fear tingled in the pit of my stomach. I looked around and found the same figure that stared at me last time across the street.

This time though, I was alone. So I did what any logical person would do when faced with the same position:

I ran like hell the rest of the way home, the welcome effects of adrenaline aided me all the way home. Coming up to my porch however, I really wished I had taken more time. There was Elena, dress in hand, and Damon. They didn't hear me approach. Something in Damon's face told me I didn't want to keep watching, but it was like a train wreck. I just couldn't look away when he leaned his face down into my sister's, obviously kissing her.

I felt my heart twinge at the sight, the feeling unfamiliar to me. Why was this upsetting me? It wasn't my business what they did, they were both consenting adults and I had no right to spy like this. Thankfully Aunt Jenna opened the door and went full parental mode on her, ushering Elena inside.

Damon took off after the door closed, but stopped in front of me. "Kyra, how long were you-"

"Long enough," I told him, my face and voice masking any emotion.

"Look I didn't-" he tried to pardon himself, taking a hold of my arm when I tried to walk away mid-explanation. Why bother? Why did it even matter?

"Listen, whatever you do, or whoever you decide to snog with is none of my business. Glad you're alive, have a good night," I stopped him. I proceeded to yank my arm back from his touch and I took off into my house without another glance his way. So what if he liked my sister, didn't I already think something along those lines anyway? I entered my house, taking a second to breathe against the door. Jenna had left for the hospital, telling me that Caroline had been in an accident, and Mayor Lockwood was dead. So I told her I would wait for Elena to put her stuff away and go with her. I had no idea what she was thinking when she kissed Damon. It just wasn't something she would do.

Something tingled in the back of my mind when I heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door. Wait… Elena? How could she be… no, no way. There was just no way.

A shout and a 'thump' brought my attention to the kitchen. "John?" I called out, taking careful steps toward the noise. When I made it to him, his fingers were cut off and he was bleeding profusely. "Oh my god," I gasped at the site.

"Kyra, what's going on?" Elena asked, stepping into the house. She must have heard the shout from the outside.

"Behind you!" John whispered to me in pain. I whipped around to see no one there, but then Elena sprinted into the kitchen from the door way. John flinched at the sight of her, and had there not been a killer vampire psycho bitch in the house, I would have had a justified laugh at him. Instead, I threw a towel at him and brought Elena closer.

"I think we have a visitor," I told her. "I saw you come into the house five minutes ago, Elena, holding your dress and everything."

"But I just got here, and someone stole my stuff from the school," she looked at me like I grew a second head.

"So that confirms it. Katherine's been playing body double," I muttered aggravated. I gave Elena the house phone, and she quickly finished the call to 911 while I took the knife from the counter. Not that it would do much. I'm not physically strong by a long shot.

Elena's eyes widened at the thought of her vampire ancestor being in the house, and her mind went straight to the worst thing of course. "Jeremy," she whispered to me. We both took off at a run, scrambling up the stairs calling out Jeremy's name with no answer. I vaguely heard the door open and slam closed, but I was more concerned about my little brother.

"Jeremy! Jeremy, please wake up!" Elena gripped onto his shirt frantically shaking him. He suddenly took in a deep breath, startling us both. He looked between the two of us, almost like he was expecting something different. "Jeremy, what happened?"

He shrugged my hand off, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Anna gave me some of her blood, to become a vampire."

I stopped cold in my tracks, frozen in place. "Elena, call Stefan," I whispered out, not leaving my brother's side. "What did you do Jer?" I asked, tears threatening to spill again tonight.

"I found Elena's pills from her accident and I took a bunch of them," he told me, not daring to look at me in the eye.

The ambulance had arrived and Elena motioned Stefan into the room. Jeremy had explained a little further about the little vial in his drawer. I remained stock still while Elena fretted over our brother, asking Stefan if he was a vampire or not, which he wasn't I knew that. I remembered what Vikki was like.

"What should I do? Should I call a paramedic?" Elena asked from the sideline.

Stefan had crouched in front of Jeremy and took his chin in his hand to get a good look at him, gauging if he had been in transition or not. "No, he's fine."

"You mean I'm not a vampire? Damn it," Jer cursed at himself. I reeled toward him at his words.

Elena did a double take at his words. "Jer- Jeremy, don't say that. Why would you _want_ that?"

"Did you hear about Anna? What happened to her tonight? She's dead," he tried to justify his actions.

My patience for the night hit the roof. "I know, I was there Jeremy. I was left in there to die with her, and the other vampires _your_ Uncle and the stupid _fucking_ council threw in there without mercy, and you what? Thought it was a _brilliant_ idea to kill yourself on the off chance you might become a vampire so you can shut off your _fucking feelings?!_ " I seethed at him, walking closer with every step. "Do you even get what that means? That means shutting off your humanity. Everything that makes you human. Family? Doesn't mean shit," I spat out at him, continuing my tirade. "You would have killed everyone in this house without a second thought, just because you can't deal with the pain." I clenched my fists at the thought, getting angrier with each passing moment from the pent up shitty-ness of the day. "Don't you ever give us shit for trying to help you forget _ever_ again." I stormed out of his room, hot angry tears rolling down my face. I had to get out of there out of fear I'd pummel him in the heat of the moment.

Elena walked out shortly after, enveloping me in a hug. "Hey," was all she said while I cried into her shoulder, done with this horrible day. "Come on, Stefan's gonna stay with Jer while we go to the hospital to see Caroline, okay?" I nodded with a few sniffles here and there, climbing into her car with her.

Pulling up to the hospital visitor parking, we parked and made our way inside the building. I hated hospitals. Ever since what happened to our parents and Elena and even long before that, they only held bad memories for me. The sick smell in the air, or I guess you could say sterile smell, and the fluorescent lighting didn't help the atmosphere either. Hospitals just felt… suffocating. We were informed that Tyler had crashed the car, and Matt explained that he had some sort of migraine and heard a high pitched noise when he crashed.

Oh good… Damon was there too. Exactly what else I needed tonight. Between not wanting to look at Bonnie for lying and almost getting me killed, and not wanting to focus on those icy blue eyes for making out with Katherine on my front porch. That also brought up another question. Did he know it was Katherine he m tonsil hockey with?

"Caroline's fine, I gave her my blood, little witch agreed to it, so she'll be as good as new in a few hours," Damon explained to us before getting to his own selfish issues. "Listen, Elena, Kyra, we should probably talk about earlier."

So he did think it was my sister. Honestly, that didn't make me feel better… at all. At least if he did know it was Katherine, I could understand better. He chased after her shadow for his whole vampire life. My sister? The only thing she and her vampire counterpart were their looks.

"Probably shouldn't mention that right now Damon," I warned him.

Elena looked confused briefly before responding. "What are you talking about Damon?"

"Well you know… we…."

"You kissed Katherine, congratulations, now do me a favor, and go do your happy dance away from me," I pushed him away in a snit. I just wanted to see Caroline for myself, give her a hug, and go home to pretend this day never happened.

"Wait, what do you mean _Katherine_?" he pushed back, not listening to what I had wanted.

I practically growled at him, "Your crazy ex that stabbed John in our fucking kitchen, that Katherine you fuck tart."

Damon stepped back, apparently surprised at my language. He had never heard me use such vulgar language so freely. "You okay there Sparky?"

"No! I am _not fucking okay Damon,_ " I practically yelled at him in hysterics. "Almost all of my friends and family almost died tonight damn it, and you were just making out with _her_ on my fucking porch." I shouted at him, hitting his chest with frustrated fists, tears returning to my face. At one point, Damon got a hold of my wrists to stop me and held me still with a hug around my shoulders while I cried harder into his chest. Not done crying yet I suppose. To be fair, it had been a _really_ rough night. I forced myself to calm down after finally letting it all out. I wasn't proud of myself, but I'd deal with my self-loathing later. I peeled out of Damon's embrace, wiping my face of stray tears.

"Kyra, I didn't-"

"I don't really want to hear about it right now Damon. I want to go see Caroline, make sure she's fine, and go to my now completely unsafe home. That okay with you?" I asked him, my tone scalding. I didn't let him answer, and instead walked away toward my friend's room. Stopping in front of the door I pulled myself together and entered with a bright smile.

Caroline smiled at me tiredly, happy to see me. "Kyra!"

"Hey Care, how you feeling?" I walked to her side, putting my hand over hers. She almost died, I almost died, Damon almost died, Jeremy almost died, and John also almost died. I don't feel as bad about that last one, but those were too many people close to me to count tonight.

"I'm fine, really. I'll be out of here in no time. At least I better be, I need to head the school festival tomorrow! No offense to your sister, but she wouldn't know fabulous if it hit her in her face," Caroline huffed from her place in bed, her personality not letting her feel tired.

"Or, hear me out, you can relax and heal up as soon as possible, then we can have our movie night," I smiled, eyes getting ready to water again. I couldn't stand seeing her in a hospital gown and not in her usual fashionable attire. It didn't feel right. I enveloped my friend in a hug. I had been neglecting our friendship and that had to change. "You aren't allowed to do this," I sniffled.

"Aw, do what Ky-ky?" She cooed over me, hugging be back firmly.

I pulled back, wiping away the tears and I explained, "You aren't allowed to almost die before movie night. It's your pick you know, I can't pick corny romance movies like you."

When we finally made it home that night, I didn't have to ask Elena, she just crawled into bed with me. She had been just as done with the day as I was, and I think she was still reeling from all of the information she learned today. Katherine was in town now. I had a feeling she didn't want to sing Kumbaya around a fire while Elena made out with Stefan. Just a hunch though.


	8. Chapter 7

**(A/N: hello again everyone! Thank you so much for your reviews! It fuels my need to write more to this story :) Now, the next semester to school is coming up and the idiot I am, I signed up for Microbiology and Pharmacology, so pray for my mortal soul. Soooo I thought I would update at least 3 to 4 chapters before school started, just to give everyone something to tide you all over. That's the plan anyways, so sorry if I only get around to two chapters. Also the next chapter will be really short compared to the others, but I'll be uploading it almost right after this one. Going straight to the Masquerade with some extra bits with Damon, because after all, this is a love triangle and Elijah is going to need some tough competition.)**

Chapter 7

 _Do I wanna Know?- Arctic Monkeys_

There were few times that Elena woke before me. So when I woke to the smell of coffee instead of the sun sneaking through her curtains, I was mildly surprised. She sat at the side of the bed, one of our larger cups of coffee in her hands. Something was up, and my groggy sleep ridden head couldn't figure it out.

"Lena?" I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes the best I could.

"Hey," she said softly, handing me my coffee careful not to spill it on her bed. "I snuck it past Jenna, made just how you like." I smiled happily in response, sipping generously on the miracle of the beans that brought me back to life. Her face remained sad, and almost guilty. "How… how are you feeling?" she finally asked.

Ah. She was worried about me. Everything that happened last night rushed back to the forefront of my mind, and I had to sit on it for a second. I looked deeply into my beverage, willing it to give me the answers I needed. "Well… is John coming back?" That encounter had left me shaken, and I'll get over it eventually, but when someone that was supposed to be family tries to kill you, the cut runs deep.

"No," she shook her head vehemently. "Stefan and Damon made sure he'd leave town as soon as he's recovered. You won't ever have to worry about him again." She paused for a second, gauging my reaction. "Kyra, I am so, so sorry that you went through that last night. If I had lost you, I don't know what I would have done," she admitted out loud.

A tentative knock sounded at the door. I looked up to see the remorseful look of my little brother. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay Ky… I'm sorry about last night. "

"You're my little brother, all is forgiven. Now, I'll say this once, I'm fine guys. Promise. Now, I'm going to get up, and get ready to help you tackle the festival today. While I'm doing that, Lena, sister dear, please go for a walk with Jer and have a long conversation?" I pushed my siblings together. She still had to talk to him about being adopted, and I for the love of the all mighty, needed a shower. I scooted off the bed easily enough, careful not to spill the last of my precious substance and headed to the door. Jeremy stopped me for a moment to give me a hug.

"I'm glad you're all right," he whispered. The events of the night must have hit him pretty hard when he realized there was much, much more that happened than he knew. I hugged him back to give him the reassurance he needed and padded my way to my room, downing the rest of my life giver.

I shuffled down the hallway, stretching as I went. Please, whoever is out there listening, don't let today be a shit storm like yesterday. One day, just one itsy teeny bitty day that was relatively normal. Is that really so much to ask for? Like, I get that we're teenagers, and the life is supposed to feel like it's ending but come on. Am I in some prophecy that come my eighteenth birthday I'll be sacrificed to some Aztec or Mayan god?

"How are you?" asked a voice I didn't want to hear yet, let alone scare the ever living piss out of me.

"MOTHER FU- you know what? I don't know why I'm still surprised by this. Damon, go home," I stopped myself from disturbing the other members of the house hold. "Go deal with whatever wreckage Katherine seems to leave behind her," I waved my coffee mug at him before setting it down on my table, next to the giant to-go cup that mysteriously appeared there. I picked it up, narrowing my eyes on him. What, was this some form of apology, or more like a peace offering?

He went to sit on my bed and eyed me warily, just waiting for me to lose my shit again. "I uh, just wanted to let you know, John left town."

I sighed, walking toward him and I sat down next to him. "Thanks… Elena told me. Listen, about my… freakout last night. I wanted to say I'm sorry for taking it out on you."

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders comfortingly. "Eh, it was a long night. Don't worry about it Sparky. So what are you up to today? Hanging out and recouping?"

I shook my head , picking myself back off my bed to do what I originally planned. "Nope. Gotta help Elena and Bonnie with the festival. I am, however, in desperate need of a shower."

"I could always join you," he winked suggestively at me.

"Funny. Now, go do something productive. Also, thank you for the coffee," I smiled at his usual flirtations. I thought he was going to leave, but his face told me there was something else going on. He hesitated, internally debating on telling me whatever it was.

"You're welcome, see you at the festival," he stated, obviously going with not telling me. Apparently we were keeping secrets again. How rude.

I sighed. I didn't like this. We had gotten close, and it wasn't like him not to tell me things. "Damon," I stopped him. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

He gave me his half-hearted half smile. "I know Sparky. We'll talk later, promise. Enjoy your day, you deserve to." Then he left. Somewhere along the line, he had become closer to me than most of my friends. I didn't know how or why, but something told me I wouldn't like what he wanted to talk to me about. Like an impending break-up speech, except we weren't dating. I knew I was being ridiculous, but it didn't stop the feeling in my gut.

That was how my morning went. I was still reeling from the night before, but I was a Gilbert. We got our shit together and moved on. I felt somewhat refreshed after the shower, and after putting on some makeup like it was my battle paint, I was ready to go. We stopped by Caroline's house to pick up some paperwork and details for everything in the fair and headed out.

Bonnie joined us at the school avoiding eye contact with me, and helped sort out the carnival prizes and games. I didn't talk to her much, I still had to wrap my head around the fact that her lying almost got me killed, and she needed to stew a little while longer. I wasn't ready to make nice yet. After that, we were like a well oiled machine. Where one thing went down, one of us had a backup plan. Bonnie even met a cute guy that handled our electric work and helped out majorly when the Karaoke machine went down. Stefan explained the best way to find out what Katherine wanted was to ignore her. She was the theatrical type and hated when she didn't have her audience's full attention. I wasn't sure ignoring her was the best plan. It seemed like something that would just make her angry and vengeful. Even with the sun shining, I still felt worried. The shoe was going to drop somewhere, I felt it. Maybe it was just from the curse of school festivals, like last year with Viki. I can't believe it's been a year already.

Then, like most of my feelings, I had to be right. I hated being right. Caroline showed up, more… forcefully chipper than usual. She just seemed more intense tonight, surveying the work we all put into the festival and rides, and her demeanor was just spookily on edge.

Damon and Stefan were doing their own little 'investigation' of Tyler's Uncle Mason. That, I agreed, was warranted. We needed to know what we were dealing with, especially with Katherine lingering somewhere in the shadows. It could have been coincidence that he came to town the same time she did, especially with the Mayor dying, but I had a hunch there was more to it. What I didn't agree with, however, was Damon compelling the guy Bonnie had started to flirt with to try to beat the shit out of Tyler. Knowing Tyler's past, not such a good idea.

I didn't want to believe in the dreadful emotion pooling in the pit of my stomach when I first saw Caroline. I didn't want anything to go wrong tonight. What I want, and what was going to happen, were two completely different things.

I stood next to Elena, trying to relax and help out with some prizes she fiddled with. My heart sank when Damon sauntered over with the 'we have a problem' look on his face. "Hey, I get with the mix up last night, I'm not the first person you want to see, but I need you both to come with me. Now," he stated, not leaving room for debate.

"Whatever it is Damon, we're busy," Elena sighed exasperated. She wasn't exactly thrilled that he kissed Katherine either, especially thinking that it was her.

"Yea, I'm gonna need you both to come with me right _now_ ," he pushed. His tone urged us both to look at each other and agree to follow him. We followed him into the usual meeting place, Alaric's classroom, and Stefan joined us shortly after. Then, the shit hit the fan.

"What do you mean she's a _vampire_?" I asked with a dangerous edge to my voice.

Stefan paced in front of the desks uneasily. "How did this happen?" he asked incredulously.

"Well, I fed her blood, and Katherine must have killed her. So… a plus b equals…." He trailed the last sentiment.

"But why?!" Elena asked. I could hear the despair at the thought of her friend being forced into this lifestyle lingering in her voice. If I didn't like Katherine before, I hated that bitched now.

"Because Katherine is a nasty, manipulative, little slut," Damon replied with acid in his words. I stared at him for a moment. That's the something else he wasn't telling me. Something else had happened between them last night.

"And she said, "Game on?""Stefan asked with his arms crossed, one of his hands moving to emphasis him trying to wrap his head around the situation. "I mean what does that even mean?"

"It means she's playing dirty, and she wants us to know," Damon let his emotionless mask rise.

"But why Caroline?" Elena questioned, hoping the vampires that knew Katherine would at least have an idea.

Damon huffed out in his feigned indifference voice, "I don't know."

"Caroline must be going completely out of her mind right now. She has no idea what's happening to her," Stefan spoke up again, assessing the situation.

"Oh I think she does," Damon stated, showing a tinge of annoyance at being thrown across a hallway by her. "All of my compulsions started to wear off the minute she was in transition."

"Then we need to find her," I urged.

"Yup," he popped the 'p' sound longer than necessary. With his arms crossed and eyes vaguely spaced out, he added, "and kill her." He made it sound like it was the easiest thing to do.

I shook my head vigorously, mirroring my sister's thoughts. "We are _not_ killing Caroline."

"You can't do that Damon," Elena agreed horrified at the idea.

"She knows who we are, she's a liability," he shrugged us off. He looked to me, thinking he could try reasoning with me. "We gotta get rid of her."

"Or, show her the ropes and how not to kill people. She doesn't deserve this Damon," I glared hard at him.

Stefan leaned forward from his spot, "Damon, absolutely not."

Damon sighed, but continued anyway. "Need I remind you of the tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donavan? Yea, Caroline of all people will not make it as a vampire." He scrunched his face at the thought. "Her mother's a vampire hunter. Guys, come on," he began to talk with his hands. "We all know how this story is going to end. So let's just flip to the last chapter and-"

"That's not an option," Elena's voice sounded gravely. Her eyes watered slightly trying to hold back the tears.

"She is nothing like Vicki, Damon," I crossed my arms while leaning against a desk. "Vicki was an addict, Caroline is anal retentive, not the same."

"No?" Damon paused, sending his icy blue gaze toward his brother. "Brother? Your silence is deafening Stefan. Wait, wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki?" I shot Damon another heated glare. This wasn't the same. This wasn't going to end the same way. I wouldn't let it. Damon sent a sarcastic scoff our way. "Talk about a town where history repeats itself." Raising his eyebrows toward Stefan he added, "You know I'm right."

Stefan walked forward, pausing in front of his brother while pointing a finger at his nose. "We're not gonna kill her."

Elena walked after her boyfriend, and I had begun to follow suit. Before I could make it out the door, Damon caught me by my wrist. "Kyra, come on, you know what I have to do."

I shook my head. "No, Damon, I don't. _You_ don't get to take my friend from me. _You_ don't get to decide what she can and can't handle. _You_ don't know her like I do. Got it?"

Damon rolled his eyes at my display of anger and frustration. He brought my face into his hands and gazed deeply into my green eyes. "Because of how close you two are, you realize she can and more often than not will hurt you? She won't mean it, and it will kill her on the inside. You'll end up dead, and she'll be wishing she was," Damon advocated his reasoning. He pulled away, letting go of my face, and his emotionless mask that he usually held slipped for a moment. Damon Salvatore looked… sad. Like he was about to do something he would regret. "I can't let that happen Ky."

Unfortunately, I didn't get speed in my supernatural arsenal. So when he vamped out and locked me in the class room, I was a little pissed. I hit the door, almost breaking the glass. I even threw my shoulder into it, and it didn't budge. Finally, I looked around the class, pulling my long wavy hair into a high pony tail for what I was about to do, I opened the window. That jackass didn't think I'd just go out the window. Well good to know he didn't know me as good as he thought he did. I lowered myself carefully out of the window, barely stumbling over my feet when I hit the ground.

I needed to find Caroline and fast. If Damon found her first… I don't think I could ever forgive him. Alright Kyra… if you were a vampire Caroline, where would you be? Boys, so boyfriend, and that would mean Matt. If I found Matt, hopefully I would find Caroline. Matt and Caroline would be doing couple-y things, so…. Ferris Wheel? If I went the right way, I could cut through the games on the way over. I took off at a dead sprint toward the games. After frantically searching, my eyes fell on a dejected looking Matt with his hands in his pockets. Without Caroline.

"Matt!" I called out, jogging up to him and losing my wind. "Have you seen Caroline?"

"Yea, she went off that way. Can you tell her to call me when she's done being weird? I really need to tell her something and I didn't get the chance to tonight…" Matt pointed me toward the parking lot. I gave him a quick nod and went off again while he went into the school.

Racing against time, I nearly cried in relief when I saw the familiar blonde head by the cab of a pickup truck, but my heart plummeted when I saw the other familiar face next to her, stake in hand. "Damon, No!" I shouted, not stopping in my sprint. Another set of familiar faces made their way there, one of them using his vampire speed to stop his brother.

"Get away from me! You killed me!" Caroline cried out at the sight of my sister.

Elena shook her head, trying to calm our friend down. "No, that wasn't me. That was a woman named Katherine."

"Why did she look exactly like you?! What's wrong with me?!" Caroline broke down in hysterics, unable to help the emotions running through herself. "Why would she do this to me?" she sobbed.

I stepped in between her and Damon, keeping them between myself the remainder of the time. "Stefan, Elena, go get her cleaned up," I spoke with a hardened tone, my eyes never leaving Damon.

"She's going to die. It's just a matter of time," Damon rolled his eyes at my behavior.

"Yea, maybe so, but its not gonna happen tonight," Stefan told him, grabbing Caroline's hand to lead her away from the public area.

"Oh yea, it is," Damon nodded toward us, eyes narrowed in on his target. If I didn't know Damon well enough, things could have ended up a lot differently.

Damon picked up his stake off the ground with his inhuman speed, and in that time I threw myself in between him and Caroline. I didn't flinch when he stopped the stake mere centimeters from my heart. I answered his gaze with a cold stare, our wills silently battling it out.

"Kyra, move," he stated, his eyes never leaving mine.

"She's my friend Damon. If you want to kill her, you'll have to kill me," I answered back, my hand finding Caroline's in a quick squeeze to tell her she'd be okay. I wasn't there for her for a while, but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to be there for her now.

Damon continued to stare me down with his icy eyes. At last, he broke. "Fine," he gritted out to me. "But whatever happens, it's on you," he pointed his stake at me. I let out my held breath, mouthing a 'Thank you' to him and I gave him a ghost of a smile.

Elena took Caroline with Stefan to go get Care cleaned up and calmed down. New vampire be damned, I was going to stay at Caroline's house tonight and help her through this. Just as they turned to leave, Bonnie waltzed up with a look of horror on her face. My sympathy for her was running rather low for her tonight, and she just kept making it run lower.

"No… you're not… you can't be," she whispered, the color drained from her face. She rushed forward to grab her arm, needing to use her witch sense to be sure she wasn't imagining things. The truth dawned on her face with her widened eyes and terror at the thought that one of her best friends was technically dead.

"Bonnie," Caroline breathed out, scared and unsure. It broke my heart. Bonnie shook her head, unable to wrap her mind around what happened as she pushed past to the bed of the pickup truck. "I… I… Oh god, Bonnie," Caroline nearly cried.

"Lena, help Stefan clean her up and keep a look out?" I lead them away from the scene. "I'll help take care of this."

Stefan nodded, gently taking Caroline's arm. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up," he told her gently. Good, they could handle that from here.

I noticed the boy in the back of the truck was the guy she had been flirting with earlier. I couldn't help but feel bad at this point. I stepped toward her, letting everything sink in for a moment. Even pissed, she was still my friend, and she needed me. Damon walked off to grab a shovel, and Bonnie still couldn't fathom what occurred tonight.

"I can't believe this is happening," she sniffed.

"Come on, don't pout about it, we have a body to bury," Damon inserted his usual un-needed snark, resting his arm on the shovel. I threw him another glare in response. Let the girl mourn for a minute. "What?" he eyed me. "I thought you were calling the shots?" I didn't answer him. What did I know about hiding a body? "No? Sucks to be you buddy," he spoke to the once living boy, putting his shovel down into the truck.

Damon dropped to the ground suddenly, groaning and crying out in pain. I turned to see Bonnie using her power to down him. The gas hose turned on behind us, making its way toward Damon. Her eyes were cold and unfeeling.

"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt Damon," she spoke with a deadly calm while the gasoline poured faster toward him.

"I didn't do this!" he grunted out, writhing in pain.

"Everything that happens is your fault Damon," she yelled at him angrily, tears running down her face.

"Bonnie? What the hell are you doing Bonnie?!" I cried out when she set the gas aflame. How _dare_ she?! After the last two days, a different fire sparked within me. One of unbridled rage. The flames divided us, but I no longer cared. I jumped through and struck my hand solidly across her face.

The flames died, and she turned to me, hurt written all over her face. "Why are you defending him Kyra?!" she yelled at me.

"Because it wasn't _his_ fault that Caroline was in a car accident, Bonnie," I seethed. "You _agreed_ to give her his blood. He didn't kill her. How dare you just blame everything on him?!" I shouted at her, fists clenched at my sides. "He's not the reason I almost died yesterday," I stared at her coldly. " _You_ lied to us. _You_ put innocent lives in danger just as much as anyone else had. _You_ didn't give _anyone_ any warning. Damon tried to save the whole town yesterday, did you know that? And he almost died doing it. So before you go blaming him, why don't you go look in a God damned mirror," I spat at her, nearly frothing at the mouth in rage. "I wanted to let it go. I wanted to overlook the fact that my life didn't matter to you, but when you start spouting out that you had no part in any of this?" I waved to the truck. "Then you have another thing coming."

"Kyra… I-I do care. I didn't mean, I didn't know-" she stuttered, unable to process what I yelled at her.

I ignored her and walked toward Damon, helping him off the ground. "Bonnie, I don't give a flying fuck. Why don't you go check on Caroline? She's _supposed_ to be our friend, or does that suddenly not matter anymore either?" I stared at her over my shoulder. "Or better yet, just go home. Caroline needs understanding and support."

"Kyra… I-" she started, still shocked over my outburst.

I raised a hand after helping Damon back up. "Stop. Bonnie, you're my friend, just… go home. Wrap your head around everything and we'll talk later." I didn't watch her leave, I just turned my attention to Damon, patiently waiting for his guidance.

He sighed, running a hand through his shaggy hair. "Why don't you go check on Caroline? I'll take care of this." I went to protest, but he shoo'd me off with a wave of his hand.

I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. I made my way to my sister, her face betraying her whirl wind of emotions.

"One normal night was too much to ask for wasn't it?" she asked me, her stare far off into her own world.

"Honestly, I don't think anything is ever going to be normal again. I'll stay with Care tonight," I hugged my sister lovingly. I can take it over for one night.

She shook her head. "No, Kyra, she'll be dangerous. She doesn't know how to control herself yet."

"And that's why I'm doing it. She's still our Caroline, Elena. She's just amplified. She needs us more than ever, and I'm going to help her stay connected to her humanity. Besides, she shouldn't be alone tonight," I reasoned, showing my sister I wouldn't change my mind. She finally gave in to my whims, not that she had a choice, when Stefan and Caroline emerged from the bathroom. After many deep breathes, we finally guided her home with the promise of my return.

I stopped off to home to grab my clothes for Caroline's house and decided to make a pit stop to see a certain someone. Someone I had to thank, and also give shit to for locking me in the class room. I made my way up the steps of the boarding house, smoothing out my shirt, and raising a fist to knock. I heard a crashing sound from within, making me change from politeness to worry. I threw open the door to rush inside, only to come face to face with Elena. Not really Elena, just her look alike. Her initial shock of me wore off when I took a full look at her disheveled appearance.

I looked behind her to see a shirtless Damon, with an angry look in his eye. Further gazing brought my eyes to his trousers, mostly removed and haphazardly hanging off his hips. Why did the scene make me so… mad?

"Kyra? What are you-" Damon started, giving Kat enough time to bullet around me before I could set her on fire with my ball of light.

I cleared my throat, trying to regain my senses. "I uh… just wanted to say thanks, for not killing Caroline and me… guess I came at a bad time," I choked on a half-hearted chuckle.

"Kyra, this isn't what it looks like," Damon tried to reason, like when he thought he was kissing my sister on the porch.

"What? Did you think that was Elena too?" I raised a brow, my sarcastic mask falling back into place. "Either way Damon, if you want to get your heart walked all over again because you think Katherine isn't going to leave you in the dust again, then be my guest. That's on you. Just stop dragging me into it," I turned to leave.

Damon's hand gripped my wrist firmly and he searched for words to say to me. "Kyra… I am not a good person, and you deserve much more than me."

I yanked my arm away from him the hardest I could. "So, what? You're breaking off our friendship? Let me guess, is it because Katherine is in town and paying attention to you after leaving you for almost two hundred years? That's rich," I rolled my eyes.

"I loved Katherine. So stop sticking your nose in places it doesn't belong," he glared at me icily. A cool wave of hurt washed over my heart.

So that was how we were going to end things? I shifted my weight between my feet, my arms crossed over my chest in an effort to protect myself from the betrayal that seemed to hit me harder than I could have ever expected, but should have anticipated coming from Damon. I never should have gotten so comfortable with Damon like I did.

"I guess you got what you came here for then, so have a nice life," I replied just as icy. "Without me in it."

I ran out of the door, almost as fast as Katherine did, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I thought I heard Damon call after me, but at that point I didn't care. I rushed haphazardly to Caroline's, tears still unshed, until I walked through to door. Her new vampire senses alerted her to my arrival and with one look at me she crushed me into one of her patented Care Hugs. So, I cried. I cried for her and I cried for how my life had drastically changed. I couldn't ask for a normal day could I? Everyone safe and sound, nothing killing or trying to kill my friends. I should have known better, but I guess that comes with being supernatural yourself… even if I still don't know what exactly I am.


	9. Chapter 8

**(A:N I am a liar, I am so sorry, No Elijah yet, but next chapter for sure! Decided the best way to get there is through a diary skip, and I couldn't justify putting one into the last chapter in the middle of it. I had a lot happen this month, and not all of it good. But I'm trying to make up for it by posting three chapters this week/ into the next week. That's right, THREE. Anyway, go forth my lovlies~! HUGE thank you to my loyal reviewers, I'm glad you all like it so far! Let me know if you find any mistakes or any opinions you have on where the story is going.)**

 **(Extra note: For those who review, as a thank you I'd like to offer a preview of the next chapter that's already done as my thanks for your ongoing support!)**

Chapter 8

 _Lone Digger- Caravan Palace_

 _Dear Diary,_

 _It's been… I don't know, weeks since I last talked to Damon? Not that he hasn't tried of course. Stefan told me that when my sister's look-a-like is in the picture, Damon tends to react… irrational at best. Either way, I was done with his games. This whole hot to cold friendship is just toxic, and I really should have known better. So, for my own mental health, I've stayed out of a majority of the current supernatural goings on, thanks to help from Caroline. I needed some time to just focus on myself and get back into a better frame of mind. I've had too many outbursts lately, and it isn't like me._

 _So why is it that I have to stop myself from answering his phone calls and texts?_

 _Maybe I just want to keep in the loop of everything. Especially since the Lockewoods are FREAKING WEREWOLVES! The hell dude?! Tyler's uncle tried to kill Stefan and Caroline last week and Stefan's been keeping me update on Damon's… Drama quest? His answer to everything is to just kill it. It's ridiculous. He even almost got Jeremy killed! Thank god Uncle John did something right and gave him his ring. I was even more pissed off at him after that. Mason had also apparently been shacking up with the copy- Kat, ha get it?, and she was the real reason he wanted something called a moonstone for her._

 _Elena went with Damon and Alaric to research werewolves and found out more about the moonstone. Something about silly curses from ancient times, that truthfully didn't sound quite right to me. Can't put my finger on why. So I opted out of the venture to spend time with Caroline and showing her my cool tricks (She thought they were cool, so at least somebody likes my little balls of sunshine.) Damon was 'sad' that I didn't tag along and he's been trying to get my attention ever since. Keeping my door and window locked seems to have helped keeping him at bay._

 _Right back to updating more._

 _So Stefan and Elena pretended to fight in order to attempt to fool Katharine, you know, a vampire, that has access to our house. Katharine, at some point, had not only used Caroline as her spy, but compelled Jenna to stab herself. She's okay, thank whoever is looking out for my family. So that entailed another round of crying from me, and I was just one giant blubbering, and raging, mess._

 _Katherine needs to die. That's all there is to it. She wants something to do with a moonstone and the curse put onto the werewolves. There was still more information missing, but it seemed to be falling into place. Stefan and I agreed she was running from something, so she was desperate._

 _Unfortunately, Elena has given up being with Stefan completely after what happened to Jenna. Add that to the reasons why Katherine needs to die._

 _Happier news: Caroline and I became closer than ever after I stayed the over. She even came to me first when she broke it off with Matt. I was there with her when her mom found out she was a vampire, and she had to wait for the vervain to get out of her system to compel her. She's even detoured Bonnie and Damon away from me a few times because she knew how I was feeling. I would never wish for her to be a vampire, but it's nice having one of my best friends back. It killed me to keep her in the dark. She did however, give me a piece of her mind when she found out about the Logan Fell thing, and how it was dangerous, yada yada._

 _Another thing we've found out: My blood isn't all that appealing to vampires. Caroline thought it was weird that she wanted to tear into everyone but me, so I'm assuming it has to do with me being some sort of sunlight generator._

 _I've been in the loop with Stefan while keeping an eye on Elena. He's all for killing his ex and we've been making preparations. Normally I would tell Jeremy to stay out of it, but with Elena out of the picture, we need as many people in on our plans as we can trust. I don't care if I almost die again, that bitch is going to taste balls of light._

 _Well there's my phone, looks like Caroline is calling, Kyra OUT!_

I glanced over to my cell phone's flashing scream, an older picture of my favorite blonde smiling brightly. Swiping the answer button, I replied with a smile in my voice, "How's my favorite vampy doing?"

"Ky, sweetie, something happened with Katherine," she tried to ease me into it slowly.

"Are you okay?!" I jumped up from my chair to start pacing the room. "If I ever see that bitch, I'm gonna fry her ass."

"Ky, honey, calm down, I'm fine," she attempted to sooth me. I huffed into the phone, signaling that she could continue. "But you're still not going to like what I'm about to ask you." I groaned, anticipating what she had to say. "When Jeremy gets home, we're going to need you both to come to the boarding house. Katherine's making her move and we're going all counter-strike, 007 on her at the Ball tonight. OH! Have you figured out what you're wearing to it yet? You should totally do something purple, it brings out the green in your eyes!" I heard a grunt in the background, urging her to stay on topic. "Oh, right! I know you and Damon have been out the outs, which totes understandable who needs him, but… Bonnie's going to be on her way too."

I sighed into the phone. "Are we at least taking Katherine out for good? Stake, fiery blaze, nothing but ashes?"

"That's the plan!" she chirped happily on the other end of the receiver. "You know… I understand why you and Bonnie are fighting, and you totally have every reason to, but-"

Crossing my arm over my stomach to grab the elbow of the hand with the phone protectively over my chest, I cut her off. "I know Care. I'll forgive her in my own time. She's still my friend I'm just… healing is all. When Jer gets back, we'll head over. I can handle being there since I won't be alone with either one of them." I heard a door slam downstairs, signally the return of the injured Jenna. "Speak of the devil, be there soon."

I came down just in time to see Jenna painfully plop down onto the couch. I could hear her cracking jokes about 'walking into a knife' as I bounded down the stairs. I walked over and gave her a gentle hug.

"How are you feeling?" I asked. The look on her face made me retrace my thoughts. "Right, dumb question. I cleaned up the house and picked up your prescription for you so you'd have it when you got back, I'll go get you some pain meds."

"You're an angel sent from above!" she called to my retreating form. To be honest, I didn't know how to cope with almost losing Jenna. She's the best aunt that anyone could ever ask for, and I almost never had the chance to tell her how much I loved and appreciated her.

I shook the sentiment to walk into my sibling's conversation. "She has to pay Elena, we have to do something," I heard Jeremy speak.

"I'm up for setting her on fire," I agreed, inserting myself into the chatter. I leaned into the island, gaze sweeping over the bag Elena was unpacking contemplatively.

"No, we're going to do nothing. I already broke up with Stefan, and we're doing what she wants. No one gets hurt," Elena disagreed vehemently. I raised a brow suspiciously at my sister. I didn't like this whole giving up attitude Katherine influenced onto her. This wasn't like Elena at all.

"You can't be that naive Elena," Jeremy rolled his eyes, also not believing what he was hearing.

"I'm not. She compelled Jenna to stab herself. She's lucky to be alive, you know that right? I'm just doing what I have to, to keep my family safe," she stood firm.

She wasn't going to change her mind, and I just sighed in response. I pushed off the counter, making my way for Jenna's promised medication. I saw that Jeremy was ready to storm out when I saw his eye roll, and I didn't want him to leave without me. I walked back out to the living room, dropping the pills into Jenna's hand and giving her the glass of water. When she finished, I put the glass of water within her reach and enveloped her into another hug.

"I'm gonna try to talk Jer into going to the Masquerade tonight, help him relax a little," I lied smoothly, for once anyway.

"Right, and this has nothing to do with talking to Stefan about Elena right?" Jenna raised her brow at me suspiciously.

"Nope, scouts honor," I smiled while crossing my heart. Technically, it was not a lie.

I retreated toward the door while she called out, a laugh in her voice, "I might believe that if you were an actual girl scout!" I chuckled in good nature at my Aunt. Thinking about what Katherine almost took away from us made my blood boil. We headed to the car in silence, my dress and accessories all packed in and ready for tonight.

I didn't realize that my fist started glowing bright until Jeremy touched my shoulder in concern. "Hey, we're gonna get her Ky," he told me soothingly. I had to admit, I was lucky to have been adopted into such an amazing family and earning the best siblings anyone could ask for.

I took a deep breath in, calming myself and attempted to reel the energy back in. "I know Jer. We've just lost so much, I can't stomach the thought of losing someone else." He remained silent, but on our way to the boarding house he reached over and gave my hand a comforting squeeze.

We arrived less than five minutes later. I didn't bother knocking, and just barged through the door into the bustle of activity in the parlor. Caroline and Stefan looked up, both moderately happy to see us. I smiled timidly in greeting while my eyes scanned the room. No sign of Bonnie, but Alaric and Damon were posted over a table with all of Ric's gadgets for Vampire Hunting. Damon glanced my way, a forlorn look plastered on his face after he did a double take.

"Wait, what's Sparkles doing here?" Damon asked surprised. I guess everyone left out that important detail. I raised an eyebrow at him, irritation evident in my eyes. "Not that I'm not happy to _finally_ see you since you've been giving me the cold shoulder, and we need to talk, just not now. While we plot to kill our ex girlfriend," he spoke, gesturing between himself and Stefan.

"What? Blue balls make you murderous?" I sniped back at him. So being hurt lead to grudges, sue me.

"No, threatening to kill you and everyone you love does," Damon retorted, making his way over with a dark look on his face.

I stopped for a second. _Me?_ She's threatened to kill me? I shook my head in confusion with furrowed brows and a deep frown on my lips. "What do you mean me? I'm the only person she hasn't tried to confront or fool into thinking she was Elena." The news was unsettling for sure, it just struck me as odd.

"She probably targeted you specifically to get to Damon," Stefan explained, trying to help me make sense.

I let a sarcastic laugh spill out before I could stop myself. "Ha! Fat lot of good she's deduced. Anyway, we can think about that later. What's the game plan?" I proceeded to ignore the looks Damon kept shooting my way. They seemed to shift between furious and wistful.

The answer to my question walked through the doorway, spell book in hand. Bonnie strode up, slightly panicked. "I came when I got your message, what's going on?" she questioned, scanning the room.

"You brought the Grimoire, good, we need your help," Stefan jumped right into it. Jeremy had abandoned me at some point during my little spat with Damon, and had set to work himself.

"With what?" Bonnie asked quizzically, her eyes lingered over me. Even with everything that's happened, I really did miss her.

Jeremy walked up behind us, a book in his hand. "We're gonna kill Katherine," he stated like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"I can explain," Stefan said, bringing his hands together.

"Please?" Bonnie asked, her brows shooting to her hairline. You'd think she'd be a little more up for it than she sounded.

"We're gonna kill Katherine," Stefan repeated my brother's words back to her. Alaric started to explain his weapons to everyone so we started to walk over.

Caroline kept a watchful eye on me when I stayed back a bit with Bonnie. "Ky…" she started softly.

I sighed, looking at my friend while she clutched her book to her chest. She lost just as much as we did this year. "I missed you too Bonnie," I whispered. She smiled softly in response to my confession. If I had any doubt Caroline heard me, the grin spreading on her cheeks let me know. "Now, let's kill this bitch."

"I don't know about this though Kyra, this sounds dangerous," Bonnie voiced her worries to me.

"She went after Jenna, Bon. If we don't stop her, more innocent people could get hurt. We have to try," I told her evenly with determination in my voice.

"But you could get hurt," Bonnie tried again.

"She can try," I flexed my hand, the anger I had hiding just below the surface.

After Alaric's demonstration, he pulled Bonnie to the side to do more planning and convincing. Damon took it upon himself to saunter over to me. I crossed my arms over my chest protectively, attempting not to look at him and ignoring Care's looks of concern sent my way.

"So you'll forgive the witch for almost killing you, but you still won't talk to me?" Damon rationalized. He sighed when I didn't reply, finally moving in front of me. "Can we talk about what happened?" I still didn't answer him. Was I being childish? Oh definitely. Was I going to stop? Eh, maybe later. With a frustrated groan, he finally said, "You should at least go home, help keep Elena there, and stay out of this."

I shook my head, "Not a chance Damon. I already have a part to play, and there's no way I'm back out now."

"I just want you to be safe Kyra," he tried again.

"Since when has that mattered?" I asked incredulously. "You obviously didn't think very highly of me before, so why now?"

"Ugh! I'm sorry okay? I've been trying to talk to you for weeks, but you ignored my calls and locked your damn door. I even tried messages through coffee but you or your Aunt kept throwing them out!" he cried out. Running a hand down his face he sighed heavily. "Come on, tell me you haven't missed me."

I remained silent on that one. I had mixed emotions about everything, and it was dizzying. On one hand, I meant what I said about the on and off again friendship. On the other one, I did miss the random visits with coffee. It really did cut deep that I wasted all of that coffee.

"See? You can't," he stated cockily.

I rolled my eyes at his usual behavior. I interrupted him by calling over to Caroline. "Care? We need to go get ready for the Ball. Damon, I _might_ talk to you later, but now, I need to go get ready."

Caroline bounced over, despite everything still excited about dressing up for the ball. We linked arms and walked back out. Jeremy needed to get dressed at the boarding house so Elena didn't get suspicious and Ric could get him fashioned up with some fancy vampire hunting gear. I didn't need to worry about stakes, but Alaric supplied me with some vervain darts anyway. 'Can't be too careful' he said. He was going to be keeping an eye on Elena and Jenna, making sure neither of them left and so they had at least some protection.

My job would be look out. I'd have my phone on me at all times and I'd keep an eye out for Katherine. The more eyes we had out for her, the sooner we could get this over with. Jeremy would help Bonnie set up a room upstairs with a temporary version of the tomb spell to lock Katherine in. Then BOOM problem fried.

I helped Caroline with her hair after getting back to her house, carefully running the iron through her hair. She sighed for a minute, signaling she was going to say something I didn't want to hear. "You know… Damon's been broodier than Stefan this whole week. Which, is like, really hard to do-"

"Right, Damon broody," I scoffed at the thought, throwing some hair spray into her hair.

"No, really! It's kind of pathetic really," Caroline continued as we switched spots so she could help me get the back of my hair, leaving it in soft, loose curls. "And, I'm definitely not his number one fan or anything, the opposite really!" I raised a brow at her, but didn't go to interrupt her. "But you've both been really miserable, and I really think you should at least talk to him. Katherine is a super manipulative bitch, and she's put a really big rift between you. I feel like, you're just letting her win."

"Whoa, hold on," I raised my hand and pushed myself up from my chair, thankful that she had already put the finishing touches of hairspray. "Since when did you care if Damon was miserable?"

"Since you being friends with him made him tolerable," she answered, going onto the makeup. "Don't get me wrong, he's a raging dick, just less of one when you two are talking. Plus, if he asks about you one more time, I might just have to drive a stake through his heart. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying date the sleaze, but being friends doesn't hurt right? Also, totally glad you and Bonnie made up," she continued to speak her mind.

Night fell, and we strode our way up to the Lockwood's home. Caroline and I parted ways, she having her own part to play in this scheme. I mingled carefully, not really paying attention to the conversations and just kept a watchful eye around me. I didn't respond to most of the advances made my way from the single men of Mystic Falls.

"Come on, one dance won't hurt you," one of them pushed. When I shook my head no, the guy tried to grab my wrist to pull me toward him. A second hand reached out to grip his wrist tightly. I heard a painful crunch sound coming from his joint as I looked into the masked face of Damon.

"Sorry for leaving you alone for so long, _sweetie_ ," Damon cooed at me. "Are you ready for that dance?" he asked me innocently. The guy held onto his wrist while Damon took my hand gently into his own, leading me to the dance floor.

I smirked at the man before me. "You look good in a tux," I remarked.

"And you, my dear, look stunning tonight," he flirted back to me. It was like we never had our fight. I really did miss him, even though I shouldn't.

"Any sign of her?" I asked lowly, letting him lead us gracefully around the dance floor.

"Not yet," he sighed. "When she gets here, you should leave."

"Or, not," I countered.

"She threatened you, Kyra. For some reason, she seems to think she knows who you are and I don't want to test that," Damon divulged one of his secrets to me. I wasn't sure if he did that on purpose or not.

I startled at the thought. "Wait, she knows what I am?" I whispered harshly to him. "What else have you been keeping from me Damon?" Just like that, our moment of peace shattered.

"She didn't say what, and I wouldn't take anything she says seriously anyway," he rebutted, waving me off. "There are other ways, and other people we can get information from."

I stepped away from him, letting go of his hand and shoulder trying not to fume. "You wanted us to be okay again Damon? This isn't a good way to start."

He stepped forward again, pulling me back into his embrace. "Calm down Sparky, I'm telling you now. All she told me was that you were dangerous, and that you would bring something far worse than her to Mystic Falls and to be careful. Happy?" He attempted to placate me.

I huffed at him, glaring at him through my ornately adorned onyx mask. "What does she mean _I'm the dangerous one?!"_ I seethed at him.

He shrugged at me, still flowing us back into the music. "Don't know, I'll try to find out before I kill her." That's where our conversation ended. Stefan came into view and Damon walked off toward him. I took that as my queue to mingle again with my eyes wide open.

When twenty minutes passed by, I almost didn't see the vampire of the hour walk with purpose up the steps. One thing that caught my attention: she wasn't alone. That never boded well for our plans. Hopefully with everything in place, everything would still run smoothly. I sent a hasty text and trailed her for a moment when the two broke off. I lost sight of her for a split second, and that was too long.

"I think it's time to introduce ourselves, don't you think?" an eerily similar voice stated next to me ear.

I jumped of course. "You guys should come with bells…" I grumbled. "And no, I don't think we should Katherine."

She smirked at me from behind her filigree mask, eyes holding a predator glare in them. "Oh? I hear people have been calling you Kyra here in Mystic Falls. What? Get tired of your Original boy toy? Or did you do something and now you're in hiding?"

I scrunched my nose confused at her words, unable to comprehend her meaning. "What are you going on about?" I asked, the confusion on my face mirroring my voice.

"Please Lisanna, we may never have met before, but I would know who you are from a mile away," Katherine explained cockily, leading us over to the table of food. She popped an olive into her mouth before continuing. "Fine, don't tell me. If nothing else I can use you for leverage later."

"You're the second person to call me Lisanna, who the hell is she?" I questioned with irritation.

Katherine stopped for a second, briefly surprised. "You really don't know, do you?" My face must have spoken volumes because she continued on her little tirade again. "Then you should know, once one of the Original vampires hears you're alive, they will stop at _nothing_ to get you. They'll go through your friends, family, even the Salvatore's. If I were you, I would suggest leaving town as soon as possible so no one else has to get hurt after tonight." She spotted Stefan in the distance and a grin broke out over her face. She didn't say anything else to me, just strode up confidently to her mark.

I took that time to text Bonnie the other woman's description, telling her and Jeremy to check her out. Other than that, everything was set to go. Damon was hiding in a closet, ready to stake her, and Jeremy was getting ready to tell Katherine to meet Stefan by the lake.

Everything was going according to plan. Until, that is, my sister showed up. I rushed over to her and pulled her aside. "Elena, what are you doing here?" I asked in a harsh whisper.

"Kyra, what is going on? Ric told me you guys were planning something to do with Katherine," she started in on me.

Thankfully, Bonnie and Jer rounded the corner to see me hiding Elena by some bushes, her bright pink shirt making her stand out in the crowd of fancily dressed individuals. "We're going to kill her," I shrugged.

"Here?!" Elena gasped in surprise. "You guys are trying to kill her here?!"

Jeremy started to unbutton his jacket, getting down to business. "We saw an opportunity and we couldn't pass it up."

"Okay. Stop with the 'we'. Are you guys crazy? You could get yourselves killed!" she chastised us.

"We know what we're doing Elena," Bonnie butted in.

"And how am I supposed to feel if one of you gets hurt because of me?" she pushed on us, anxiety high in her voice.

I put a hand up to stop her. "This isn't just about you Lena. You're part of it, just not all of it."

"She's messed with all of us, she has to be stopped," Jeremy reiterated my point, his hands in his pockets, showing no remorse for misleading our sister. To be truthful, I didn't feel any either. She looked between the three of us, knowing she was hitting a brick wall when all three of us agreed. We all stood our ground, up until the point Elena cried out in pain, clutching her back.

"Elena!" I rushed forward, looking at the blood oozing from her back. "What's happening?!"

"What's going on? What is it?" Bonnie frantically asked, taking a hold of Elena's arm. Elena could only answer with gasps of pain.

"Get her to the table," I ordered. Jeremy helped her sit down while we tried to figure out what was happening. Elena cried out again when another wound appeared on her arm, her shirt soaking with blood.

"What's happening?" Jeremy questioned worriedly.

Bonnie looked between Elena and the house, putting two and two together. "Jeremy, it's Katherine, she's linked to Katherine!" she explained anxiously. Jeremy nodded and took off at a sprint to the house, dodging people as quickly as he could.

A jagged line appeared down the palm in her hand while she hyperventilated in effort to ease her pain. "It hurts," Elena gasped out between breaths.

"Elena I can't break the spell," Bonnie told her sorrowfully. "But I can try to take some of the pain away okay?" I began ripping parts off my dress to stop the bleeding while Bonnie chanted some words in Latin. Elena's breathing began to even out, becoming less labored.

I nodded to Bonnie when she finished her spell. "That woman, go find her and get her to break this link whatever it takes," I told her with a harsh tone. I took one of the smaller fabrics and wrapped it around her hand. "Lena, sweetie, it might hurt, but I'm going to try to put pressure on the one on your back okay?" she just nodded to tell me she heard me when Jeremy came running back up. I took a wad of fabric and reached under her shirt carefully, pulling the soaked fabric away from her skin. "Ready? One, two, and-" I pushed down hard, making sure it was in place and would help her wound coagulate. Elena only grunted in response. I moved onto her arm while Jeremy held the one on her back. I placed a small wad of fabric over her shirt, knowing we wouldn't be able to roll up her sleeve. Then I took a longer piece of fabric to tie it down to add some pressure, but not enough for it to be a tourniquet. "Hang in there for a while longer, okay Lena?" She nodded again, the tremendous pain she had written on her face slowly receding.

It felt like hours had passed, when at most it had been thirty minutes. I stroked her hair comfortingly and apologizing every time she winced. Finally Bonnie jogged back over.

"The spell is broken, you'll be healing again soon," she informed us. "Katherine's taken care of too," she added. I felt conflicted. I wanted to fry that bitch, but I never would have been able to leave Elena's side. "There's something I need to do before she leaves," Bonnie stated, not quite letting us in on what happened.

I nodded and she was off again. I looked over to Jeremy who watched our friend longingly. I smiled slightly at his obviousness. "Jer?" I interrupted his thoughts. "Make sure Bonnie has a way home? I'll make sure Elena's okay and get her home myself," I added mischievously. A little push together couldn't hurt anyone. He gave Elena a quick hug and jogged after our friend.

"That wasn't fun," Elena sighed, the pain finally falling away from her face.

"I bet. If you're going to be healing, I'll need to take that fabric off your back," I explain, carefully making my way to her back. I apologized when Elena winced once I removed it. "Thank god I wore a long dress, huh?" I let out a relieved chuckle.

"Yeah," she smiled at me sadly.

There was something else on her mind, I saw it in her eyes. "Katherine's gone, are you and Stefan-"

"I… I don't think so Ky. I just want to make sure our family's safe. I'm just not sure I can do that while I'm with Stefan," she admitted softly.

I sighed, not liking where this was going. "I don't agree with you, but," I told her. "You're my sister and I'll support whatever decision you make."

"Thank you," she let out a heavy breath.

Stefan stood behind us, next to the pond, waiting to have a moment alone with Elena. I smiled sadly at him over her shoulder, not wanting to see either of them hurt. I picked up all of the bloodied rags that used to be part of my dress and ducked my head his way. "I'll meet you by the car when you're done, okay?" She nodded an okay and walked toward her soon to be still ex- boyfriend.

Damon never showed back up that night, probably dealing with normal Damon stuff that didn't involve me. Or more, he didn't allow me to be part of. After dropping the rags off into a trash bin, I headed to the car. I almost made it too, when I felt an arm snake around my waist and lift me off the ground. I tried to scream, but a cloth covered my mouth, forcing me to inhale what I only assumed was chloroform.

My only thoughts before my mind receded into the darkness?

Well…. Fuck…


	10. Chapter 9

**(A.N: Hey guys, literally just posted the last chapter yesterday, in case you get confused and needed to go back a chapter. Finally we get to see a glimpse of what's going on aaaaaaaaaaand You guessed it, the appearance of Elijah! Finally right? Well the next chapter has a looooot more to it, and it's definitely going to deviate from the show at this point for my writing purposes. I offered sneak previews for reviews, cause bribery gets you everywhere right? Anyway, here you go!)**

Chapter 9

 _Shark in the Water- V.V Brown_

"Kyra, Kyra wake up, please!" I heard Elena plead, almost foggy and distant like. What happened? I tried to bring everything back into focus, trying to pinpoint the memory. Masquerade ball… Kathrine… upset Elena… "Kyra, I need you to wake up," Elena tried again.

"French Toast!" I sat up suddenly with bleary eyes while everything slowly came back to me. Someone knocked me out with a rag. Right. Well… worse things have happened… mostly. This whole kidnapping business was really trying on the nerves. I looked down at my still very tattered dress and sighed. I really did like this one too. I looked around our surroundings, nothing looking familiar. So we were both definitely kidnapped. My eyes stopped at the freshly growing bruise on my sister's cheek. Violent kidnappers… great…

"Don't scare me like that!" Elena swatted my arm. I merely raised an eyebrow at her, saying really? It's not like you haven't done it to me before. "Anyway," she pointed to two figures across the room, "that's Rose and Trevor, they're the ones that took us. They aren't really saying why, but I've gotten bits and pieces. Something about me being a doppelganger."

I groaned and put my head in my hands, trying to pull it all together before my morning snark came out to play. "I have a feeling it has to do with that moonstone cures…I don't suppose they have coffee around here do they?"

"You're both out in the middle of nowhere, if you so much as _think_ as running, I will kill you in front of your sister," the woman named Rose threatened me while she hovered over her papers. She had an aura of a pensive nature about her while her eyes scanned the papers in front of her like their lives depended on it.

"Right," I answered, unaffected by her threat. However, with the thought on the 'no coffee' situation, I shot her a murderous glare. "What about that coffee?" I needed my life source and some sunlight otherwise this wouldn't bode well for anyone.

"Kyra!" Elena attempted to warn me. "I'm sorry, when she wakes up she has a one track mind," Elena attempted to apologize to our captors. She shot me a glare, apparently worried they'd try to hit me too for my temper. The guy Trevor got the hint and sped off to the other end of the house. Dusty, grimy, used by vampires… there's no way I'm getting my coffee. Another thing to add to my list of, 'What's going to piss off Kyra today?'

"So… we're here because you're a doppelganger," I started my list of things going on. "A curse needs broken, and this has something to do with someone Kathrine pissed off and has been running from. It smells like something she'd be involved in." I paused attempting to think about it further, brain still trying to function without my caffeinated beverage. "What'd you do to piss this… entity off? Help Kitty Kat piss it off too?" I quirked my head to the side, waiting for a reaction. "I mean she seems to have that bad habit and that looks to be at the base of so many of our problems, so…" I trailed, watching the vampire visibly tense while I rose from the dusty, filthy couch I had been placed on.

"Kyra, stop," Elena tried warning me again. Maybe it was the lack of coffee, maybe it was maybeline, but my temper wanted to take the reins. She reached out to stop me by grabbing my hand in hers. Pulling my hand back from her grip I began to step forward.

"No, I don't think I will Elena," I tilted my head dangerously, gathering what rays of light I could around me. "You see, people keep trying to take my family from me, and I don't like that," I threatened further, feeling the effects of the small rays of sunlight around me, absorbing it all. Rose jumped back, feeling her skin singe and the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She could feel the danger radiating off me, her fight or flight instincts going into hyper-drive. "Who is coming for my sister?" I asked in a tone that screamed foreboding. "You might be afraid of whoever it may be, but I can guarantee I will kill you faster than they can get here," I attempted to intimidate the vampire in front of me. I wasn't sure if I actually could kill her, but with the practicing I've been doing, and the slowly raising rage within me, I just might be able to take her out.

Trevor took that moment to come forth with a cup of coffee. Wise man. The burning stopped as I brought myself back. Rose could only stare incredulously from the events. Handing the coffee over I plopped back down from the energy I used up in my display of power. Did I mention coffee is life?

"Wait… you're… you're her," Rose whispered to herself, an epiphany crossing her face. It was a mix between awe and horror.

Sipping generously on the crappy, but still caffeinated beverage in my hands I replied with less ire than originally, "What, I'm infamous now?"

"That was little much Ky..." Elena rolled her eyes at me.

"She hit you and kidnapped us. Don't think I didn't notice that mark on your face," I waved my free hand toward my sister's face. "Granted she's obviously on the run," I continued, "that still doesn't give her permission to be a bitch," I replied, cradling my coffee like it was an infant. "Besides, I am getting angry with all this supernatural shit coming to kill us constantly."

"You should know better than anyone who's coming for her, and now you, Lisanna," Rose told me tentatively.

"Who the hell is Lisanna? And why do people keep calling me that?" I cried out frustrated.

Rose narrowed her eyes at me. "Elijah will be here. He is one of the Original vampires. We were to deliver the doppelganger, but you were in the way. My apologies, I don't know how he will take the news of you being here as well. He's been searching for you for hundreds of years Lisanna," she added, going back to her nervous pacing over some papers on a table. Rose ignored us after that, not wanting to look me in the eye anymore.

Original? As in the first ever vampires? A shiver coursed through me involuntarily. Didn't Katherine say something about them? One thing I did know, we needed to get out of here and fast.

Rose glanced at her phone and with her vampire speed, fled the room. Trevor's body language gave away his anxious feelings. He paced with his vampire speed, making me dizzy. When she returned, Trevor and she began to argue. He wanted to run, but she on the other hand thought handing over Elena would give them favor to some Elijah guy. I heard her add something about me into the mix, but mostly ignored it. If nothing else, I could stall enough for Elena to get away from here. Really I could last until sundown minimum anyway, with best case scenario.

"So what'd you get while I was out?" I asked while the vampires were distracted with themselves, keeping a steady eye on them.

"Something about Original Vampires, the first ones in existence, and them wanting to sacrifice me to a ritual," Elena whispered back, also keeping an eye on the two vampires in the room. "They seem really scared Kyra…" Bringing a finger to her lips in a 'hush' motion, she showed me the note our witchy friend Bonnie sent us. Damon and Stefan on the way. That meant I needed to bide for time.

I nodded to her, putting my empty cup down, and stood myself back up. Like second nature, I stood in front of my sister. "So what you two are saying is an original vampire, that you both pissed off and who is super powerful, not to mention terrifying, is on his way here?"

"No, he is here," stated a smooth voice from the doorway. My senses heightened as my heart started racing. I had only felt this kind of fear in my nightmares. The man wore suit and stood in the door way. His stance, his gaze, all of it just screamed an ominous foreboding. His eyes fell to mine. Surprise overtook his features with a hint of recognition glinting in them. Who was he? Something about his face felt… familiar… "It's you." I heard him breathe out. Pulling himself back together, he looked back at Rose. "She's not the doppelganger, where is she?" he paused for a moment, gaze calculating. "Why you have her," he pointed at me, "We will get back to that momentarily."

Elena took that moment to stand by my side instead of staying behind me. I glared at her, but she merely took my hand and squeezed. We're family, we protect each other. That's what she tried to convey. With his faster than normal vampire speed, I blinked and he stood before us, a little too close to Elena. Smelling her, an astonished look donned his face.

"Human, that's not possible," he whispered to himself. In that moment, I pulled her behind me protectively. "Ah, there you are. First things first, Rose, you are pardoned, but I still have questions about _her_ ," He emphasized while waving a hand toward me. "Unfortunately, we have a long journey ahead of us and we should be going."

Elena gripped my hand tighter from behind me, looking to the other vampires she pleaded, "Please, don't let him take us."

"One last piece of business, then we're done. We have much to… discuss my dear fae," he glowered at me. What did _I_ do to piss him off? He stepped away from us, and turned to the terrified vampire. Never thought I'd hear that one.

"I've waited so long for this day to tell you Elijah, I'm sorry, truly I am," The younger vampire whimpered, trembling under the Original's stare.

"Oh your apology is not necessary," Elijah half circled the shaking vampire, almost predatorily-like.

"Yes, it is," he hyperventilated, his eyes never leaving the floor before him. He knew, anyone could tell from the look on face. His death was imminent. "You trusted me with Katarina, and I failed you."

"While yes you are the guilty one," Elijah responded, voice laced with a façade of sympathy. "Rose only aided you then because she was loyal to you, now that I honor." He took a dramatic pause. "Where was your loyalty?"

"I beg your forgiveness," he finally met Elijah's eyes, terror deeply rooted in them.

"Elena, don't watch," I whispered. I could sense what was coming. These 'Original's' were vampire royalty. This vampire committed treason. While Rose could strike a deal for mercy, the other one's was considered inexcusable and traitorous.

"So granted," Elijah nodded. Without a long enough pause for me to look away, Elijah cut off the predator's head before me with nothing but his hand. Horror written on my face, I couldn't look away. I heard Elena's gasp as she gazed at the headless vampire in front us. I heard Rose breakdown to the side, my eyes never leaving the dead body. This man just killed her only family.

"Y-you," she breathed out in between sobs.

"Don't Rose," he warned. "You just got your freedom. Now tell me, how did you find _her_ ," he pointed to me after wiping his hand off.

"I-I didn't. She was collateral damage that came with the doppelganger," Rose nearly collapsed, staring at her beheaded family. "We didn't know who she was…"

"I see," he rolled off his lips contemplatively. "So tell me, Fae, what do you call yourself this time around?" Elijah asked me, an angry tone to his voice. What did I do? Fae?

"F-Fae?" I stuttered, fear obviously showing on my face. "Who… who are you?" I shook uncontrollably, looking between him and the body. Elijah's face briefly showed his surprise before he went back to his stoic expression. Elena decided to take her turn to protect me this time, swinging me behind her.

"You don't remember me," Elijah spoke softly to himself more so than me. Elena made sure she kept herself between us.

"What do you want with Kyra?!" Elena asked bravely, ignoring her own situation like mine mattered more.

"What happened to you, Kyra was it?" the man before me asked, ignoring my sister.

"L-look, I don't know who you are or what you want," I stuttered. The man before me just exuded power in the most terrifying way. I felt like I had been staring into the brown eyes of a tiger. Entranced and petrified all at the same time. After what happened to Trevor, I didn't want Stefan and Damon to find us. They could get themselves killed!

He went to reply, but fast movement brought us from our confusing encounter. Elijah looked around irritated, ready to blame Rose.

"It isn't me!" she exclaimed.

"Over here!" Came a call from the back, causing Elijah to follow the disembodied voice to the back of the house, and Rose to flee. Just as that happened, I saw Elena disappear before my eyes. Good, that means she's safe, probably with Stefan. Another quick movement caught my eye, that one must be Damon.

"Here!" said another voice from a different side of the house, causing the Original to speed toward the voice again. While they did that, Damon clutched my shoulders and sped off, making my stomach jump to my throat for a moment. Damon brought a finger to his lips in a Shh motion. I was too busy trembling, scared and confused to argue.

"Tell you what," Elijah's voice called out, not far enough away from me. "If you hand over the Fairy and Doppelganger, I'll end your life quickly and you won't suffer." Damon looked at me and mouthed 'Fairy?' I merely shrugged, trying to keep my breathing even. I could hear Elijah walking toward our hiding places. "Or," his voice drawled on, giving us an ultimatum. "Or you just give me the fairy, and I'll let the rest of you go for now." Damon eyed me incredulously while I tried to steel my nerves. He had never seen me this afraid, and I'd never felt this kind of danger. Looking at my sister across the room in their hiding place, I knew what I had to do. Damon tried to hold me back, but I singed his hand with some of my stored sunlight and jumped into the open. I stared him down, trying to be brave from the top of the stairs.

"L-leave them alone. They were only trying to help us," I whispered shakily, knowing his vampire senses could hear me. "Please, just leave my sister out of it."

He eyed me curiously, "Sister? How peculiar… The other lives you were an only child."

"Other… lives?" I questioned. "I- I don't understand," I couldn't help but stammer.

He brought his hand up to my face, a gentle caress to my cheek that I didn't expect. "There is no need to fear me Lisanna. No harm will ever come to you from my hand," He whispered to me, bringing his face closer to mine as if we were old lovers. I froze. I didn't know what to do, who he was and why did he know all of these things that I didn't even know. Was any of it even true? I thought he was mad at me for something earlier, and now… He didn't get to move any closer, as his body flew into the wall with an almost sickening thud. I felt like the wind got knocked out of me for a moment. Damon seethed next to me for a moment.

"Don't you EVER, do that again," he fumed. Before he continued, Elijah threw him from my side, and followed after him. His hand was aimed for Damon's throat. Before I could scream out a No! Stefan came to his brother's rescue. I couldn't keep up with the movements in front of me, but the next thing I could see was Elijah staked through the heart and pinned to the wall. Pain erupted from my chest and stars danced across my vision. What just happened?! Everything hurt, I couldn't move, I could barely let out a strangled gasp for breath.

"Kyra!" Elena called out, rushing to my side after my legs collapsed under me. Too much stress. Too many ancient vampires. And too many unanswered questions! "Kyra, look at me, it's okay."

"What's going on with her? This isn't like you," Damon trudged over to me, hooking his arm under my legs while supporting my back. "I gotcha Ky, come on, you're safe now," he attempted to soothe.

"He isn't dead," I voiced, all emotion drained from my voice, only slightly weak from pain. "I don't know how I know, I just do. We need to leave, now," I urged, holding onto my friend's neck, burying my face into his chest for comfort, trying to calm the fear in myself. After getting us both to the car, I turned my head toward my sister. "Why does he think he knows me? He called me a Fairy, are those even a thing?! Are Fairies a thing now?!" I started to panic, wheezing out more questions. "And something about past lives? I don't get it! Why does my chest hurt Elena?" I asked the last part weakly. To say the least, my composure was shot. I had officially hit meltdown mode… yet again. I tried so hard this last week to pull myself together. All for nothing.

"Hey!" Damon nearly shouted to get through my hysteria. "Calm down, he's dead, you two are safe, let's get out of here," he waved Elena to get into the car.

"He isn't dead Damon! A bigger stake isn't just going to kill an _Original_ vampire!" I screamed at him, the pain in my chest easing ever so slowly. "Those vampires were terrified of him. Do you really think they wouldn't just kill him if they could?"

Damon just rolled his eyes and threw me in the back seat. "Hurry up and get buckled in, if she's right, we need to get out of here, now," he ushered, jumping into the driver's seat.

Elena wrapped me in to a hug as soon as the door closed and the car took off. "I'm so sorry this is happening Kyra. All of this is my fault," she whispered mournfully to me.

Pulling Elena into one of my own bone crushing hugs with everything I had left in me, I tell her the same thing I always tell her, "Sisters forever, family protects each other."With a yawn I added, "Besides, you heard him. He's after me too."

"That's nice sisterly bonding and everything, but let's get back to that stunt you pulled back there Fairy dust," Damon glared at me through the rearview mirror. "Could you both do us a favor and stop pulling that asinine martyr crap? That'd save us quite a few headaches. We in agreement? Great."

I didn't bother arguing with him like normal, I just didn't have it in me. I couldn't tell where we were, but I did know my eyes felt heavy. Before I knew it, I had fallen into a light sleep in Elena's lap. I listened to them whispering back and forth, trying not to wake me up.

"She must be pretty shook up, no comeback AND she's fast asleep back there," Damon eyed his brother with concern.

"What do you think he wants with her?" Elena voiced her worries while she absentmindedly ran her fingers through my hair. She knew how to keep me calm, that's for sure.

"I get why he wants you, doppelganger curse mumbo jumbo crap, but what's he want from Kyra? Pixie dust?" I heard Damon's voice drip with his normal sarcasm. "I mean fairies though? Really?"

"We did just find out about werewolves Damon, so obviously there's more stuff out there than what we know. Whatever it is, we're going to need to find out. You said your parents adopted her when she was eight right?" Stefan asked from his place in the front. Good ole reliable Stefan, using brains not brawn. "What about before that? What happened?"

Elena got quiet for a second, trying to decide the best course of action, I almost heard the gears turning in her head from my position. Finally she replied, "She doesn't really talk about it, I know she doesn't remember much either. I remember Sheriff Forbes brought her by one day, and she seemed kinda scared. I don't know what happened, she just ended up staying with us after that."

"We should find out more, maybe it will help lead us in the right direction," Stefan added. Or, you know, you could not, dude. The awkward turtle was about to be swimming up with the way this conversations was headed.

"Where better to find out than the source? Hey, Tinkerbell, wakey wakey," Damon reached back and moved my leg to get me to stir. "I already know you're up princess, I heard your heart pick up."

"Damon!" Elena chastised, shooting him a harsh glare.

"I'm up, Jesus, Damon. What got up your ass today?" I huffed, sitting myself up in my seat. A little dizziness hit me, but not too much. The pain had almost completely faded.

"The cross that you keep trying to die on got shoved up there nicely. Maybe if you're a good girl I'll let you take it out later," he quirked back at me, derision written on his face in the mirror. "But that's for the pillow talk. Now, what does an Original want with you?"

"Hell if I know, I didn't even know I was a fairy remember?" I bit back at him. What was wrong with him? Elena's safe, and we were almost home right? Maybe it's because I didn't stop it from happening in the first place. I mean he's definitely in love with her, what with the whole kissing Katherine thinking she was Elena thing. So I guess I could that putting him in a foul mood. My power was supposed to help prevent this kind of thing from happening. That's why I practiced so much right?

"What about when you were eight? What happened then?" Stefan pressed from his side, ignoring his brother like normal.

"That's not something that I want to talk about, and it's not relevant anyway," I brushed them off. Damon looked like he wanted to argue more about my evasiveness.

I watched intently while Stefan silenced his brother with a look before turning to look at me. "At this point Kyra, we need whatever we can use. We just want to make sure you're both safe, that's all," he tried his soothing voice on me. That sort of thing only worked on Elena.

"It isn't relevant because the last thing I can remember is walking down the road for hours, alone, covered in blood, and hurt at eight years old. Then having the Sheriff pick me up and take me to the hospital just to have them tell me that there wasn't a scratch on me," I heatedly bit out. I don't like talking about it. It's awkward, it's uncomfortable, and I just don't like it. They got the hint and let it drop. Damon became uncharacteristically silent. That was a first, and I can add that to the list of reasons I don't talk about it. No one knows what to say, or do, and it just gets weird. Finally after that long, awkward, silence, we made it back to their house.

"You two are staying at our place, that's final," Damon argued, getting out of the car. "You two obviously can't be left alone," Damon glared between Elena and me after opening my car door. "Gave brother dearest and me a heart attack, metaphorically speaking of course, when we couldn't find you. Add in this 'Original', and well for all of our sakes, let's just hang out here tonight?" I heard the exasperation in his voice.

Elena went to roll her eyes, but Stefan quickly added, "As much as I hate agreeing with him, I think he's right this time. We'll get Kyra settled in to recover from, well… whatever just happened. How are you feeling by the way?" he directed the last part at me.

"The pain in my chest feels better, but I'm still really confused I guess… Guys, he talked to me like he _knew_ me. How is that even possible?" I asked. I started to pull myself from the car only to have an arm beneath my legs and pulling me up before I protested. I merely glared at Damon from my compromised position. "I'm okay now Damon, I promise, I can walk just fine." I felt Elena eyeballing the vampire holding me, putting things together in her head, that to be frank, I never would have put in the same thought.

"You two aren't a thing now, are you?" she asked, not able to help herself. I almost wanted to laugh. Hadn't Damon proved enough he loved her? He wasn't a bad guy. He just made bad choices from time to time with horrific ramifications. "I mean, not to get off topic, and it's not like I would judge or anything… it's just…you know…" she back tracked, trying to insinuate that I am an adult and can make my own decisions. I knew she just worried too much.

I rolled my eyes while adding with snark, "He wishes. I said I can walk jackass." I felt myself relax again, becoming the me I normally was whilst the adrenaline and feelings of overwhelming dread wore off. "Besides," I whispered so he could hear me, "you and I both know who you really have feelings for." He furrowed his brow, trying to decide what to do before he answered. That sounded like a jealous girlfriend, and maybe I was a little jealous but I didn't really have the right to be.

"Alright, that's it, put a pin in our group pow-wow conversation, I need to talk to this little shit alone," he adjusted me, indicating I was the little shit. With his vampire speed, he ran with me into the house, abruptly tossing me none too gracefully onto his bed.

"What is your problem Damon?!" I huff out annoyed.

"My problem?! MY problem?!" he ran a hand over his face showing his frustration. "My problem is you and your damn sister just falling onto each other's swords like that's okay. Your life _means_ something. Stop trying to throw it away for your damn sister," he scowled.

"You know that's not going to happen Damon," I pushed back. "And why does it matter? Everyone else tries to do it all the time, but you're fine with that. And you, you do the same thing, why is it suddenly an issue when _I_ do it?!" I raised my voice at him. Who did he think he was?

He stared me down long and hard, neither one of us breaking eye contact. Before I knew what was happening, he lunged forward. He grasped my face in his hands and crashed his lips onto mine with such hunger I became helpless to its power over me. I melted into his kiss, my arms foreign to me as they played through his hair on their own. My mouth parted enough to accept his invasive tongue, my throat letting loose a satisfied moan. He pulled apart just long enough for me to take off his shirt followed by my own. Damn hormones.

"You're sleeping in here tonight," he sighed contently. He trailed kisses down my neck to my collar bone, leaving a new sensation behind every kiss. My body felt like fire coursed through my veins. I definitely didn't expect this to happen.

"Wait," I stopped myself. "Wait, Damon, stop," I said a little louder.

Irritation evident on his face, he barely paused to ask, "What?"

"What just happened?" I asked, obviously confused.

"I was about to make a fairy fly with very happy, very dirty, thoughts," Damon smirked up at me from his current position.

"Funny, Damon, I meant what is _this_ ," I waved between us. "I'm not some chick you can just mess around with because you can," I eyeballed him. "And definitely not just because Elena isn't giving into your charms."

"Why do you keep bringing this back to Elena?!" he cried out frustrated, letting his head fall onto my chest.

"Maybe because you tried to kiss her?" I prompted him with a shake of my head.

"Right, that, we never got around to me explaining that. We were talking on the porch, we had gotten really close, and I was talking to her about you. Then, she kissed me. Granted, I should have pushed her off, but I also really wanted to piss off Stefan," Damon smirked at me with his trademark 'Damon smirk'.

Taken aback, I asked, "What do you mean talked about me?"

"We were discussing how miraculous it was that you, somewhere down the line, deemed me worth saving and risking your life for. How I didn't deserve it, but you thought so anyway," he told me gently, staring into my soul. Breaking his trance, he added in his usual demeanor, "I'm starting to think she was jealous of both you and Elena, so she wanted to make problems."

I sighed again, just accepting his poor life choices. "Okay fine. That still doesn't explain why you get so mad at me for trying to keep Elena safe."

"Didn't you hear yourself a minute ago? Do I really need to explain this further or is that sun light stuff getting to your head?" He gazed at me, his piercing blue eyes searching mine. Breathing out, he quoted, "'You let everyone else do it, why not me?' Why do you think Kyra?"I stared at him, making sure to keep my mouth closed. "I don't care about what happens to anyone else. I care about what happens to you," he stared into my eyes intensely with his beautiful blue orbs. He didn't mean that. There was just no possible way.

I rolled my eyes, pulling his head out of my chest by his hair. "Right, so that's why you were half naked with Katherine," I narrowed my eyes at him. If I was any other girl, I would jump him anyways. I, fortunately, was not just any other girl.

He grunted in annoyance, pushing himself up off the bed. "You never let me explain any of that. It was heated, I wanted answers, and I knew how to get them. It didn't actually mean anything," His icy blue eyes bore into my own intensely. I hated when he did that, it made me want to believe him.

I broke eye contact by rolling my eyes again, something I found myself doing often in his presence. "Right, well, we should get back downstairs, Stefan probably wants to talk more about the stuff, and uh… things," I trailed, jumping off his bed and putting my shirt back on. Avoiding feelings was key right?

Damon rolled his own gorgeous and very vibrant, blue eyes at me, but he got up anyway. "Fine," he added, "But we aren't done here." We made our way back down the stairs to my sister and Stefan. I put myself ahead of Damon, hoping some distance would help clear my head.

"Kyra, is everything okay?" Elena pounced the moment I came into sight. She must have picked up on Damon's broody mood the way she looked between us.

"Yea," I waved her off. "I have an idea though," I offered. It had been on my mind ever since we found out Bonnie was a witch. Damon tilted his head curiously, wondering when I would have had a moment to think up an idea. "I'm going to ask Bonnie to help me remember."

Elena's brows furrowed with worry at the thought. "But, Kyra," she said carefully, "What about your nightmares? What if they're real?"

I shrugged, trying to be indifferent at this point. To be truthful, the thought scared the ever living shit out of me. As it stood, those nightmares are just what they are, nightmares. If they were real, then it really happened and I would have to find a way to come to terms with those memories. "Then I'll deal with PTSD as we go? I don't know, either way I need to remember before whatever happened, happened. It could help us out in the long run, especially if I'm supposed to know an Original that's trying to kill you. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Pain, agony, suffering, you know, generally unpleasant things," Damon quipped up, tense behind me.

"I'll just have to remember, they're just memories. That's all," I attempted to soothe their worries. "Fine, can we at least talk to Bonnie tomorrow about it?"

"It could definitely give us an edge," Stefan inputted from Elena's side. Elena turned to her boyfriend, a look of betrayal on her face. Damon shot him a deadly glare until he added, "But we can do that after we get more information. Damon can go talk to Sheriff Forbes tomorrow and get Kyra's case file and find more out that way. After that we can decide where to go, sound good?"

"I guess that's okay," I nodded. "You two can snoop, tell me what you find and we can decide where to go from there," I reiterated, exhaustion finally settling in.

"I think it's time we call it a night, it's been a long day," Stefan pointed out the obvious. Elena looked like she wanted to argue, but a stern look from Stefan stopped her. "Goodnight you two," he waved to us, leading my sister back to his room, kissing her any time she looked like she'd protest.

"Didn't we just talk about that falling on a sword thing?" Damon broke the silence, his face telling me everything. Mad, but not pissed, so that's always good. "It's like talking to a brick wall with you."

"I'm not putting myself in danger Damon," I rolled my eyes, yet again. "This is completely different. Can we just drop it? Please?" I asked him tiredly. I watched him debate with himself from beneath my eyelashes. I thought he'd start fighting with me more, but I guess I looked as tired as I felt.

"All right, let's get you in bed Tink," he guided me by my shoulders back to his room. "You know, if you roll your eyes much more, they're gonna get stuck that way," he pointed out to me. I didn't bother to retort, the exhaustion had hit me like a freight train. "We'll talk more tomorrow." He surprised me when he placed a tender kiss on my forehead. Climbing into his bed, I fell asleep nearly the instant I hit those blankets. I don't remember when but I ended up tucked under his chin while he caressed my back. I thought I heard hi m whisper, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you Ky, I promise." This position felt familiar. He smelled like leather and cologne I noticed, as I drifted off to sleep.

The room fell away around me. There was only me walking through a fog, and up to an unfamiliar house, with an unfamiliar fence, and an unfamiliar door. My feet lead the way as if they had a mind of their own. This wasn't like any dream I'd ever had, and it felt so… real. I didn't bother to knock because despite not remembering this place, and regardless of the details around me, I knew there was something in there for me, and only me. "Maybe some answers," I thought aloud. I followed the sound of a piano that drifted down the white stairs adorned with a well trafficked red rug, the faded white paint chipping from the old wooden hand rail. The floors creaked while I followed the sad tone in a trance. What was going on? Am I in the Phantom of the Opera? Following the voice of Moonlight Sonata to a broken piano with a depressing ending to its love story? One way or another, I had to find out.

"Kyra, isn't it?" the Original vampire from yesterday called out to me from his spot behind the surprisingly clean piano. It stood out in the dusty room, the only bright and clean thing in it. Almost like a beacon in this abysmal room. "That's your name this time around, correct?" The sad love story in the piano tune of Moonlight Sonata began to turn into something more light hearted, and hopeful. Claire De Lune?

"What do you mean?" I asked tense but unafraid. Why is that? I feel like I'm floating… wait… "Did you compel me? Is that why I'm here?" I asked incredulously. Stefan and Damon couldn't, but if this guy was an Original…

A soft chuckle escaped his lips. His chocolate brown eyes gazed softly into my own and his hands never left the ivory keys. "No… I'm afraid not, Kyra," he said my name as if testing the way it sounded on his tongue. "Even back then I couldn't compel you either. That might have something to do with your fae bloodlines," he explained. His eyes were much kinder than when I first met him. It was disconcerting. "You're asleep right now, and with the connection we share, I'm able to come to this place in your dreams when we are apart. We used to do this quite often you know," He smiled with a remembrance in it that made my heart skip a beat. "It wasn't nearly as dark as it is now, but I suspect it has much to do with why you can't remember me."

"How did you-" I started to ask. My mind couldn't stop skipping back and forth like a table tennis match. "How is this- Is this real? What do you mean this time around? What did you mean fairy? Just who the hell are you?!"I called out, frustration breaking through my calm pretense.

He stopped playing then. Standing to lean against the piano, he crossed his arms and eyed me suspiciously like I could be hiding something from him. He decided to answer me with a question of his own, "Why don't you remember me? That's the better question. Of course, it also appears you remember nothing else of your past as well. Strange… you used some of your abilities back at that house did you not? How did you use them if you did not know you are of the fae?"

"I thought I was just some sun witch or freaky plant thing," I replied, looking away from his tensely searching dark eyes.

"None of this adds up Kyra. What happened in this lifetime? I thought I'd never see you again, and here you are, three hundred years later, seemingly no memory but still able to access your power," he pondered out loud, circling me like the predator I knew he was.

"I don't remember much of anything before I was eight. Sometimes I think I do, but it just turns into nightmares," I tried, crossing my arms in front of me protectively, attempting to shield myself. Why did I explain any this to him? What am I trying to defend myself for? "Why am I even telling you this, you're trying to take my sister!"

"If you want answers, meet me on the Lockwood property in two days," he offered. Neither a hint of malice nor any underlying deceit colored his voice.

"But why? Couldn't you just kill me and take my sister then?" I stared him down. What was the catch here?! "And why two days?"

"Unfortunately, I have some business I must attend to," he told me with a soft look, smoothing out his dream suit. "Kyra, you might not remember it now, but I am a man of honor, and I swear to you always; no harm will ever come to you at my hands," the strength he held in his vow nearly shook me with surprise. I did need answers. Maybe he could give them to me. "Besides, I couldn't kill you even if I wanted to. I don't possess the nightshade, nor do I have the desire to cause myself more pain than you have already unknowingly inflicted upon me."

Before I could add anything intelligible to the conversation, the setting around us had begun to change drastically. "What's going on now?" I asked a little salty. This week had _not_ been my idea of fun.

"It appears you're beginning to lapse into your dreams Kyra," he answered, looking around curiously. I had a massive wave of anxiety hit me at the thought. It was like I was stuck in that perpetual freefall feeling while my heart thundered in my chest, trying to break free. Even with shallow breaths, my heart rate wouldn't slow."Is everything alright?" Elijah asked, worry sprinkling his voice.

"I don't want to go back to those dreams again," I whispered, tears starting to form in the corner of my eyes. I could feel myself regress back into that eight year old that wandered down the road, no memories, just covered in blood and sore. I looked down, remembering what I wore. The bright white sun dress that fell past my little eight years old self's knees appeared while my physical stature regressed. I watched the crimson red blood seep through slowly. I needed to let myself become numb. I needed to find a way to switch off my fear. No one could help me here. I was alone.

"Kyra what's happening?" Elijah asked, kneeling before me and grabbing my little hands into his desperately trying to understand the situation.

"You aren't here Elijah, you aren't real. They're going to hurt me again, they're going to find me," I voiced in a helpless monotone. The emptiness I needed to feel to get through this nightmare had consumed me.

Fraught with worry, he grabbed my shoulders gently. His eyes searched my dark, vacant ones. "You need to wake up Kyra, please. I'll help you, but you need to wake up. Kyra," he pleaded.

"KYRA!" I jolted with a start to my name being yelled, bringing me back to reality. Sort of. My fogged dream had half of my mind still in my eight year old dream-plane body. In my nightmare hazed state, I dashed out of bed and tried hiding beside a dresser. My heart was still pounding and eyes focused on a place that was no longer in front of me.

"Kyra, it's just me," the voice said softer this time. My eyes started to focus on the environment around me. I remembered where I was. Now familiar brown eyes flashed before me, slowly turning back into the brilliant blue I had become accustomed to. It was his face. The one I kept seeing everywhere before we even met. Damon sat crouched before me, his hand cupping my face gently, wiping away only what I could assume were tears on my cheeks. "Hey, its okay, you're safe here Ky, I've got you," he murmured, pulling me into him. He let me sit there, and just held me like I needed him to for a good thirty minutes before I composed myself. Was I still asleep?

"I'm sorry," I apologized, looking back up to him. "I guess that didn't reassure you too much huh?" I chuckled humorlessly.

"Maybe we should hold off on Bonnie bringing back whatever that," he waved his hands, "was."

"I think… I think I need to do this Damon. I think there's so much more I'm supposed to remember than just what happened. If I have to relive that then… then I'm just going to have to. It's not like I don't have to live with these anyway," I shrug, running a hand through my bed head to straighten it out some. I had made up my mind at this point. I felt fed up not knowing who and what I was. "What time is it?" I asked, cutting off his early morning arguments and snark.

"Seven, in the morning. Come on, let's get you back in bed," he tried to usher me toward the plush and overly comfortable duvet.

"Sorry, wide awake now. I'm going to go get some stuff to make breakfast. Go back to sleep okay? I need some fresh air anyway. Not to mention coffee," I replied, jumping back up to metaphorically pull myself together. I needed air. Everything just seemed suffocating in this room and too enclosed. I could see Damon about to oppose the idea, so I did something I wouldn't usually do. I gave him a quick kiss to stall him and added, "We're here in Mystic Falls now right? Elijah wouldn't come after me in broad daylight. So no worries. Besides, I need to go let Aunt Jenna know we crashed here last night."

"Then let me-"

"You're not coming with me. I need a moment alone, that's all okay?" I smile softly at him and his concern. "I just need to process some things by myself, that's all. I promise."

"Fine," he rolled his eyes, "But don't expect me to let you be gone longer than an hour without someone with you."

"You act like I can't handle a vampire by myself," I raised a brow challengingly, hands on my hip in defiance.

"An Original vampire is a whole new ball game sweet heart. We don't even know how to handle this yet, magical fairy blood stuff or not," he waved at me up and down. Sighing in defeat after I gave him a heated glare, he finally yielded again, "Okay, okay. But if anything happens, call me. Don't do that damn thing you do. And we still have to have talk when you get back, got it?" he called after me while I tried to leave before he could finish.

"Can't remember what you mean!" I called back to him, knowing he could hear me. I couldn't help the smile that caressed my face while I walked out of the house. I never expected this of all things to happen to me, and with Damon of all people. Sure Damon can be rough around the edges, but I can see the good. Deep, deep, deep, down there. It's just a little hidden from hurt and years of pain.

I made it around the block before a hand covered my mouth from behind me. My scream muffled, I kicked my feet out into the air. The sun gathered about me as I began to burn the assailant's hand with my own. "Kyra, wait," the voice commanded, not even a hint of pain shadowing through. Turning around, I froze. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right," the voice offered its concern. The Original from my dream stood before me.

"How did you know where I was?" I questioned, my courage returning to me again. Original or not, I was tired of these games and questions that just posed more questions than answers. "Did that dream thing actually happen? What the hell is going on?!" I cursed out at him frustrated. He could only stare at me for a moment, an awestruck look on his face.

"It really is you. Despite not knowing who you truly are, you still have a semblance of who you were. It troubled me when I first saw you back at that house, but I knew," he rambled to himself, walking closer to me with every word.

I took a step back from him, making him stop his trek. "Listen, I might not be absolutely terrified of you anymore, but I still don't know you." I shook my head. "I might have a solution though," I offered him after seeing his face fall in dismay. I'm not sure why, but that look didn't sit well with me. "I have a friend, that might be able to help me remember," I clarified.

"Don't," he stopped me suddenly. Now that brought on suspicion. Why wouldn't he want me to remember? "If your mind locked itself to you, there must have been a reason. This isn't something you should just dive into without precautions," he chastised me. "At least let me help you, and you'll get all of the explanations you need. Please, just don't do anything rash," his eyes begged me to listen to him. I almost wanted to. Almost.

"Why does everyone assume I'll do something rash?" I mumbled out, sass hinting in my tone.

"Call it experience," Elijah smiled fondly at me. "For now, Elijah Michaelson, at your service," he bowed. Taking my hand in his, he brushed his lips across my knuckles. Releasing my hand, he stood up. "Should you ever need me, just call my name. I will be there in a heartbeat," he promised me. His chocolate brown eyes told me he meant it.

"That might be hard since you don't have one," I shrugged. "A heartbeat, that is." Even with my sass and attitude, he only smiled at me warmly. Who was he supposed to be to me? Obviously we were either close or he's delusional. I'm not sure which I'd prefer at this point. "Anyway, I have things to do. I'll see you in two days at the Lockwoods."

He looked surprised. "Trust me already?" Cheeky bastard.

"No, you just have a lot of explaining to do Lucy, and I'll need to find a way around my sister and our self appointed body guards," I waved him off. I paused for a moment, debating what I wanted to admit to him. "I just… I want to know why I've been seeing your face, everywhere…"I whispered, mostly to myself. I made my way back down the street to my intended destination: Coffee. There were three things that helped me concentrate and figure things out; coffee, music, and my spot. Unfortunately, I only had access to one for now, I would have to get to the other two later. I don't know what it was about that smirk on his face that made him look so handsome to me, but the feeling was there, and it just confused me even more. Instead I decided merely glared at him over my shoulder and continued back to my route to the coffee shop. That's it, it's because I haven't had coffee, so I'm just losing my mind.

Now I have Damon, Elena, not so much Stefan but he's up there, and an Original vampire watching me like a hawk because… because he cares? I'm not sure why he would though.

That might have been the last push I needed. I couldn't stand not knowing anymore. Walking into the coffee shop, I pulled out my phone and dialed Bonnie's number. She picked up after the first ring.

"Oh my god! Are you guys okay? Did you get my message?!" she yelled through the speaker.

"Bonnie, I'm gonna need you to take it down a notch. I'll tell you everything, can you meet me here at the cafe? I'm going to need your help…" I spoke with determination into my phone.


	11. Chapter 10

**(A.N: Hello everyone! I hope this chapter pulls on some heartstrings! Was debating and debating where to end, but tell me what you think! And much love to my loooovely reviewers, you keep my creative juices flowing!)**

Chapter 11

 _Once Upon a Dream- Lana Del Rey_

"You want me to what?" Bonnie stared at me from across her cup of tea. The look on her face told me I still needed to convince her.

"I want you to… secretly help me get my memories back," I played it off casually.

She shook her head, mentally arguing with herself. "Kyra, you just found out you're a fairy, what if my magic doesn't work on you? What if it doesn't mix right and something goes wrong?"

"Then," I licked my lips, trying to think up something good, "you can always tell me 'I told you so' and tell my secret service on me." I had to get her on board with my plan. At this rate, the brute squad won't let me and we could be running short on time. The sooner this happened, the sooner I could help keep my sister safe. No matter the cost. "Besides, what's a little mental trauma compared to Elena potentially dying?" I could tell Bonnie saw my side, maybe a little begging… "Please Bonnie. You're the only one that can do this."

She internally fought herself before she gave an irate huff, signaling I won. "Fine! I'll get my stuff together and we can do this tomorrow."

"It has to be tonight," I corrected. The look she gave me probably would have hurt more than any spell gone bad if her glare had a physical form. "Damon, Stefan, and Elena will be busy looking at police files, and it'll be the easiest time to avoid all of them. If it makes you feel better, you can call them right after, and they can even bitch me out if things _don't_ go wrong."

She sighed in sweet, sweet defeat, and gave in fully to my plan. "Deal, but I'm going to have to get a move on if we do this later tonight. Is eight a good time?"

"Perfect," I nodded to her. No turning back now. I just had to get together a few more precautions, and I'd be golden. Looking at my phone when we parted ways, I nearly cursed. Okay, I did curse. "Shit!" It had gone past the hour Damon had given me, and I missed four phone calls from him.

"Coffee with Bonnie huh?" came the dreadful, snarky, knowing voice from behind making me jump. "What could that possibly been about?" Damon gave me one of his smiles that told me he was thoroughly irritated with me.

"She wanted to know what happened," I replied coolly, regaining my composure. "She hadn't heard from us after she sent that magical message and she was worried."

"And that's all?" He raised his brow line at me, not believing me at all. Since when did he know me that well? Or was it the vampire hearing? How long did that stalker watch me?!

"Okay, okay, I told her my idea and she agreed it's a bad one, especially without preparation. So don't worry about it," I sighed in pretend defeat. Technically I didn't lie, I just didn't tell him about the rest of the truth.

I couldn't help but take a good look at him again. His ruffled dark hair still looked like he hadn't brush it since yesterday, skin the same pale that he's always had, and those ocean blue eyes that currently mirrored his annoyance in them. Just in case, I wanted to take in the details one more time. Who knows what could happen tonight?

"I can't leave you anywhere alone," he pinched the bridge of his nose for a second, trying to think. "What am I supposed to do with you tonight then?"

"Nothing, I'm not a child Damon," I gritted out, my own irritation slowly growing.

"Then stop acting like it and just listen to what I say this time!" he retorted back.

"It's not like I can get into anything now anyway. Bonnie already said no, what else can I do?" I pushed on. "Come on mister big bad baby sitter, let's grab stuff for breakfast. Elena and I don't do blood, so I was thinking pancakes," I changed the subject, hooking his arm in mine to lead him away. He rolled his eyes at me, not wanting to give in. Scrunching my face I added in a mocking deep voice, "'If you keep rolling your eyes they're going to stay that way."" The look he gave me, I wish I could describe it, but it looked like a cross between incredulous and offended. I don't know what came over me, but I started giggling and ran off like an elementary kid picking on her crush. It took him a minute to come to, but when he did, it was one of the first genuine smiles I've ever seen from him. It wasn't a smirk, or one of his fake deceitful smiles, it was a real, happy smile, if even for a glimmer of a second.

"What?" he asked me, making his way to my right. Apparently I had been staring at him for a minute, and he wasn't used to it.

"Nothing, I just don't think I've ever seen you really smile before, that's all," I grinned up at him in response. I was taking the peace for what it was while we still could. When he didn't respond for a moment, I gazed back over to him out of the corner of my eye. "Pixie caught your tongue?" I teased.

"You're really overly happy… or something, whatever, and it's not like you," he looked slightly worried. "At least not with all of this stuff going on."

"I'm taking this one moment of peace for all it's worth I guess," I voiced my thoughts. "I know we're just going to the store, but for this one second, there's nothing trying to kill us or kidnap us, and I'm doing something as normal as going to the store to pick up food before you lock me down in the house with my sister." I noticed his eyebrow rise at the last part. "I mean that last part is just becoming normal so…"

"Wouldn't have to be if-" Damon tried again.

""You would just listen to me 'cause I'm a big bad dude that's trying to protect you" blah, blah, blah," I rolled my eyes on impulse after I mocked him with the deepened voice.

We bantered back and forth all the way to the store and back, all of it playful despite the situation. I appreciated the normal-ish feeling. To be truthful with myself, something told me my plan would go wrong, but I still had to try. If not for myself, for Elena. I didn't think I'm going to die, hopefully anyway, but something told me things would change. Enjoying my time with my sister and friends, I readied myself for what needed to be done.

When eight o' clock rolled around, my nerves were on edge while I waited for Damon to leave, and Stefan to stay here with Elena. I had to think of a good excuse to detach myself from Stelena, otherwise none of this would work. I started to yawn, playing the part to aid myself in the deception. My main hope was they would be too wrapped up in each other to notice me slip out a window somewhere, or out of the basement.

"Hey, guys, I'm going to go and lay rest. I guess I'm still worn out from yesterday," I said with crossed arms, subconsciously trying to hide my true intent from them. I nervously brush my hair behind my ear, trying not to linger on one of my lying tells.

"Yea, sure Ky," Elena smiled sadly at me. She probably felt at fault again. She had that habit. "Sleep well," she nodded. Thankfully the two were too distracted with one another to notice how nervous I was or just took it as me being tired. I made it around the corner and waited to hear them start talking again before I looked for a way out. I finally just decided on a window and crawled as silently as I could out of it. After getting out of vampire earshot, I made a break for Bonnie's in a dead sprint.

Knocking on her door, she answered, looking around carefully. I hoped Damon didn't threaten her earlier. "Come on, let's get this done."

"Thanks for helping me Bon," I smiled at one of my oldest friends gratefully.

"Don't thank me until we're finished," she stressed to me. She felt as uneasy as I did. The last thing I can remember I did was lay on the floor before everything went black.

Miles away from this, Damon stood in front of the house from the police report, eying it with disdain. This was where Kyra's world changed, and his morbid curiosity got the better of him. When he got to the door, he noticed no one owned the home anymore, so it didn't prove to be difficult to look around. He started up the stairs, noticing the faint odor of old bleach mingling with something metallic and familiar. Someone had tried to clean up, but from the smell of it, they couldn't get it all even after the years that passed.

"No wonder they couldn't sell the place…" Damon trailed out loud to himself. He stopped for a moment, a prickling sensation causing the hair on his neck stand on edge. Pulling himself together, Damon used his usual bravado. Who could possibly be here anyway? Probably some harmless squatter in a corner somewhere.

"What's brought you here today… Damon was it?" Elijah asked, emerging from the shadows. An Original tended to be a lot worse to deal with than some run of the mill homeless guy. "I'm actually quite disappointed in you Mr. Salvatore. You should be making sure our little fairy friend doesn't do anything impulsive," Elijah looked at the younger vampire with contempt in his eyes.

"She isn't any of your concern," Damon ground out, the Original touching a sensitive nerve. He didn't like this guy, every supernatural bone in his body held a special place of hate for him.

"Oh but she is," Elijah picked up a discarded bunny, running his hand over it with a familiar fondness in his eyes. Dust floated from its matted fur from the years of it being left behind. "But that, Mr. Salvatore, is none of _your_ concern," he mimicked Damon's words back to him, adding fuel to the blazing fire. "Are you in love with her?" He asked suddenly, eyes never leaving the toy he held. Damon stopped his movements about the room, surprised. It wasn't a question he wanted to answer, least of all to him. Elijah continued, "Because if you are, I might have to kill you faster than I anticipated. You see, I'm not one for sharing, and we've had a long history together." Elijah looked around the abandoned room, a regretful sigh leaving his chest. "No matter, I wouldn't have to worry if it hadn't been for whatever occurred here. For now, you want to know the same things I do. What happened to her in her adolescence?"

Damon paused begrudgingly, not liking the idea of a team up with his newest rival. "The police report said her parents were brutally murdered, and didn't say anything about her. If you've known her for so long, why didn't you save her then, huh?" Damon attempted his low blow, using his time to study the room. Wanting the same thing or not, he wasn't going to work together with this guy. The Original had the possibility to put a wedge between him and Kyra, not something he was too keen on happening. "Sounds like you loved her so much," Damon started to taunt, "that you left her here to rot."

"Do not speak of things you don't understand Mr. Salvatore, it will only end badly for you," Elijah warned with a menacing undertone. Damon made a movement with his hand like a hand puppet to gesture Elijah's words angrily in mocking response. "I suggest we keep looking if we do not wish to give our favorite Fairy time to do something incredibly reckless," Elijah sighed, ignoring the childish actions of Damon. Placing the bunny back on the bed with care, he stared at the room before him, willing anything to pop out at him to give him a clue.

"Yeah, about that," Damon paused, wanting some of his own questions answered. "What is all this, fairy crap you keep calling her? Those actually exist?"

Elijah tilted his head in slight confusion. "Fairy, or Fae, is what she is Mr. Salvatore. There is nothing 'crap' about it. She is a creature of the light, with much more lore than I am willing to divulge to the likes of you at the moment. Maybe if you pick up a book once in a while, you might know something about her," Elijah retorted. Damon's lip curled into a snarl at the response.

Damon rounded the corner of the little bed, his eyes landing on something he hadn't initially noticed. A barely hidden door, possibly just wide enough to hide a child's things, laid open. The old wooden door was painted with crusty blood and scratches with broken off nails imbedded into it. He could almost see what happened before his eyes. The thought made his blood boil with unbridled rage. Elijah followed his gaze, and had he still been human, he might have retched in disgust.

"What did the report say about the culprits?" Elijah asked with a deadly calm in his voice.

"Human and alive if that's what you're asking," Damon's jaw clenched tightly, his heightened emotions getting the better of him. "They were locked up a few days later, but never convicted for her parent's murder."

"I see… that will change quickly."

Breaking the two out of their rage fueled trance, Damon's phone broke the tense silence. He didn't look at who it was before barking a, "What?!" into the phone.

"Damon," Elena's panicked voice spoke through other end of the phone. If Damon's heart had worked, he would have felt it drop to the floor harder than he did now. Elijah didn't care that he blatantly eavesdropped. He just needed to know what happened to cause the doppelganger to call one of her vampires with such a frantic tone. "It's Kyra, she isn't here," Elena explained her worries. "She said she was going to lie down, but I just went to go check on her and she wasn't there Damon," she told him in alarm. "Stefan's trying to find her now."

"I'm on my way, try your little witchy friend," Damon ordered before cutting the phone off, not bothering to notice Elijah had left already. "Ky you are in _so_ much trouble when I find you," he muttered to himself, taking off faster than his vampire speed allotted for. Moments later, he burst through the doors of the Boarding house. Seeing Elena's distraught face didn't help his nerves. Before he could ask anything, Elena's phone brightened with Bonnie's name and number. anxious

Fretfully, Elena answered, "Bonnie! Is Kyra with you? Hang on, slow down. What's going on?" she paused listening to her friend. "We'll be right there." Damon couldn't get much through the jumbled speech on the other side, but from what he heard, good news wasn't part of it. "I'm not sure what's going on, but it can't be good. We need to get to Bonnie's, now," Elena echoed his thoughts, feeling the slightest solace in at least knowing where her sister was.

The tension in the air could be cut with a knife when they drove to Bonnie's. From what it sounded like, Bonnie didn't know what happened herself, just that there was blood, and a lot of it. Elena didn't let the car stop before she jumped out and ran up the stairs to the door.

"Bonnie! Kyra!" Elena called out, letting the door slam behind her while Damon stood helplessly uninvited on the porch.

"In here!" Bonnie called from the parlor. Elena rushed forward, kneeling next to her now unconscious sister, not a scratch on her, but her clothes stained with bright red blood. "I don't know what's happening Elena, one minute she's fine, the next she starts convulsing and there's blood everywhere," Bonnie explained alarm coating her voice.

"Where's it coming from?" Elena asked confused, examining her sister's body. "She doesn't have any cuts or scratches."

"Can you invite me in?!" Damon called frustrated from the doorway. He couldn't do anything and he hated that helpless feeling. "Please?!" he tried again.

"Come on, we should get her to the boarding house," Elena tried, keeping an eye trained on her sister.

Bonnie scoffed at the idea. "Bleeding all over in a house with vampires? Yea I don't think so. We should keep her here Lena," she tried to reason.

"If you're keeping her here you better let me in little witch!" Damon shouted, not liking what he heard at all.

"Not happening Damon!" Bonnie yelled angrily back. She rubbed her hands together in an attempt to think of any quick way to save her friend from the pain she witnessed. Currently: she had none.

"You know, this love hate relationship we have going on here is getting real old, real fast," Damon bit back sarcastically from his spot outside. Stefan appeared that moment, attempting to figure out the situation.

"What happened? I smell a lot of blood," he asked his desperate brother, worry lacing his tone.

"You know, I would love to find out, BUT SHE WON'T INVITE ME IN!" Damon shouted frustrated. "EITHER BRING HER OUT HERE OR I WILL TAKE APART THIS HOUSE BRICK BY BRICK UNTIL IT ISN'T A HOUSE ANYMORE!" He yelled, his desperation and frustration levels raising with every second ticking by. Taking a deep breath, he added in a false sense of calm, "Or at least bring her to the door? I might be able to help." Silence fell over the girls in the house before Bonnie came into sight with a levitating Kyra, Elena holding onto her sister's hand with a death grip while she lowered her in front of the door.

"I don't know what to do guys. I tried to pull her back from her own mind when it happened the first time, but-" Bonnie stopped when Kyra began to convulse once again. Deep gashes and different wounds appeared on her stomach and her face only for it to heal moments later. Elena held her sister tight, tears spilling over from watching her sister suffer. "I think she's stuck in some loop with whatever memory is doing this to her. She didn't tell me about this… I never should have… I- I didn't know," Bonnie tried to defend herself.

"She wasn't sure," Elena sniffed, trying to wipe away more tears.

"I don't get it though," Stefan muttered. "The police report said she was fine, not a scratch on her."

"She's a fairy Stefan," Damon replied lowly, staring at the woman he'd come to develop deep feelings for since the beginning of his stay in Mystic Falls. "We've never actually seen her hurt before," he admitted. Damon's heart started to break, seeing how lifeless she seemed despite the shallow rise and fall of her chest.

Elena wiped her tears away, an idea forming. "Bonnie, you said she's stuck in some sort of loop right?"

Bonnie nodded, not wanting to look away from her friend for fear she'd start convulsing again. "Yeah, I think if she could just get past this memory, she'd be okay." Bonnie closed her eyes, trying to think of a solution. "The way the spell was _supposed_ to work was like a sort of spirit journey. She'd go back through her own memories, and then be able to figure out why she can't remember before a certain time, and hopefully find a way to get through it."

"Can you do anything to help? Like send me into her head or something?" Elena brainstormed. "If I can help her through her loop, she'll wake up right?"

"Elena, it's too dangerous. We don't even know if that would work. I can't send you into whatever is happening to her," Bonnie shook her head. If this happened to her, there was no telling what this could do to her more human friend.

"Fine, what about me?" Damon offered.

"She'd have to have a special connection to you, I don't know if you would work either," Bonnie hesitated. At least she had hoped there wasn't a special connection between the monster on the other side of her door and one of her dearest friends. Not after everything he'd done anyway. She was okay with him now, but not _that_ okay.

"Guess we won't know unless we try," Damon smirked at the witch and laid down next to the, at that moment, peaceful Kyra. He briefly looked to Elena, silently asking her to give him Kyra's hand to hold. "Besides, worst case scenario, I die, you're happy. Sounds like there's nothing to lose here." Bonnie only glared before she finally stepped through the barrier between them reluctantly. Elena gave Kyra's arm a little push, just enough for Damon to grab her hand and give it a gentle squeeze. Bonnie sat behind Damon's head, concentrating hard while murmuring words no one else understood. "Even in your dreams Ky," Damon whispered before turning his head back, "I've got you."

Everything around him fell, turning black, grey, and decaying. Sitting up for a moment he realized he was outside of the house he visited earlier. It was almost like a menacing fog had fallen over the house in front of him, warding him away.

"I don't want to go in there," a little girl whispered from behind Damon. He turned to stare at his friend in awe, grasping that this was Kyra. "Bad things happen in there," she whispered even quieter than before. "He promised me Damon. He said he would always come to protect me."

"Who Kyra?" Damon furrowed his brow, not expecting her to recognize him.

"I did," the Original emerged from the hazy fog of Kyra's memories. Kneeling down to the younger version of her, he added, "I cannot ever express to you how sorry I am Kyra. I would have given anything to have been there to save you from this place."

"Wait how did you-" Damon started, shocked at the turn of events.

"You aren't the only one with friends," Elijah brushed him off.

"It doesn't matter," little Kyra's voice broke the tension. "Neither of you are here. Not really. I'm all alone," her eyes glazed over, no longer seeing the men beside her, just the horror that awaited her in the house in front of her.

"We're here Ky, please, let us help," Damon stood in front of her, trying to get her to focus on them.

"She found me Elijah. She put them up to this… to do this to me and my family," she spoke again. Damon couldn't put any of it together, nothing she was saying made sense. He only knew he had to get her to wake up.

"Who?" Damon looked between the two, confusion showing on his face.

"Blaecleah Chiara," Kyra's gaze never left the house that was once a home, her eyes still holding emptiness within. The words she spoke, only Elijah knew what they meant: The fae of the dark meadow. "She knew, doing this at such a young age would only benefit her. She aims to turn me, and then kill me so I can never be reincarnated again. She will find me at my weakest point, and prey up it."

"Is she here?"Elijah asked, uncharacteristically startled.

"No. This isn't her opportune moment," Kyra's monotone voice rolled on. The two vampires could only stare helplessly at the little girl before them. The fog shifted in the distance, two shadowy figures making their way to the chipped white house. "They're going to kill mommy and daddy, and I can't stop them. Then, they're going to come after me," Kyra's voice remained the same, but a single tear ran down her face. Without warning, the little girl sprinted toward the house. "Mommy!" She screamed in agony, bursting through the door. She watched as the ominous individuals were attacking her parents. "Daddy!" Pain and terror was all she felt when she turned to run up the stairs. She tried to flee faster than the men who had turned their attention to her. She made a made dive for her little cubby hole, hoping to hide.

The floor boards creaked under their weight shortly after, signaling her they were closing in. "Come on out little girl," a deep voice called from further across the room. From the crack in her hiding spot, she could see him clearly. He held a knife covered in her parent's blood. What haunted her most from this encounter? His crooked smile. His inhuman glee was brandished on his face. He enjoyed every moment of torment he caused her and her parents. Knowing what came next, Kyra screwed her eyes shut, clutching the side of the door. A snap and thud caught her attention. That wasn't how this normally went. Curiosity caused her to peek from behind the door. The men that haunted her dreams stood there no longer, just… Damon.

"Kyra?" Damon turned to her hiding place. Elijah came into sight not long after, having disposed of the other threat in the house.

"It's safe now, you can come out," Elijah coaxed softly. Kyra slowly pushed the door open, wary of her surroundings. He knelt to her height, hoping to make her feel less threatened. Kyra shot forward into Elijah's embrace, tears flowing freely this time around. Her emotions finally made their way back into her eyes.

"You're really here," she sobbed, unable to hold back.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner Elskede," Elijah apologized using an old nearly forgotten endearment while he held onto her tight. The guilt flooded his conscience. Slowly she pulled back to look at her other rescuer.

"Damon, you're here too. You really care about me don't you?" Kyra smiled weakly before jumping to him in a rushed movement to hug him.

"I would never let you do this alone Ky," Damon whispered while rubbing her back soothingly. "You had me worried there," He admitted. She stepped back after being sufficiently calmed down and brought back to normal, but Kyra's form stayed the same. "Why are you still the… little version of you?"

"I need to talk to you two before I wake up," she spoke softly, but not emotionless this time. "Damon," Kyra began slowly, "There's something you need to know. The Fae, we have what most people know as soulmates, "she paused, sending a glance toward Elijah. "But it isn't quite that simple. Because of nature of the Fae, we are given two pathways we can walk. Due to our life spans, it has been unprecedented to have two immortal pathways we could take, especially at the same time."

"Where are you going with this Kyra? Why can't you just tell me when you wake up?" Damon questioned, not understanding the gravity of the situation.

"I won't remember, my mind was unable to get past this memory on its own. Unfortunately, I don't know if I will ever recover my true memories, so I need to let you know things now while I can," she explained ominously. She sighed, and looking between the two, she decided to rip it off like a band aid. "Elijah, is connected to me deeply. That's how he's here now, just like you Damon." Damon shook his head for a second, trying to grasp her meaning. Elijah's face fell into his trademark mask at her words. This wasn't something he anticipated. Before they could say anything, she continued. "I know this wasn't what you expected, and I will have to choose between the two of you at some point, but I have no idea the outcome at this point. Chiara saw to that. For that, I apologize to you both, it never would have been my intent for this to happen," she apologized with a bow, not wanting to face them anymore.

"Little late for that Pixie Dust," Damon sighed. "Looks like I have the edge here old man," Damon smirked. He eyed his competition with a look of resentment. He wasn't about to lose this woman to that dinosaur. "Game on," Damon puffed out his chest.

Elijah scoffed at the act of dominance. "Please, as if the likes of you could protect her from the Dark One Chiara," he narrowed his eyes. He turned to the woman he knew for thousands of years, readying himself for the challenges ahead. "I promised you a long time ago, I plan to keep that promise." Kyra smiled gently, a sadness from the thought of hurting either of them filtered through.

"When I wake up, I won't remember this. I will remember you were both here, but as for my deepest memories of the past, they're in a place I cannot reach at this time. Damon, because of this, I need you to wake up," Kyra pleaded. She needed a moment alone with Elijah before she lost her memories again. She needed this last chance to tell him.

"I'm not leaving without you," he shook his head. He didn't have much of a choice, once she mentioned it, his body started to fade before their eyes. "Wait, Kyra!"

"Don't worry," she reassured him with a smile. "I'll be right behind you." Soon enough, Damon faded completely, allowing her privacy. Turning to her love from another lifetime, tears formed in her eyes. A devastation and sadness were rooted deep within her emerald orbs. Her form changed from that of a child, back to her adult self.

Elijah stepped forward, pulling her into him firmly not wanting to let her go. "I'm so sorry Lisanna, for everything. For not stopping this atrocity, for not… " he swallowed some of his emotion, "For not saving you before this."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled his forehead to hers, "Shhh Elijah. I don't blame you for what happened, and I never will." Sighing she looked at him, sorrow filling her. "We don't have long."

"Decades upon decades apart, and this is the only moment we get?" he asked mournfully. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

She chuckled at his last question, her warm breath brushing his lips. "You should know by now, I never like to do things the easy way. It's part of who I am." Elijah smiled warmly at her, choosing to savor the moments with how he remembered her before she lost her thoughts and memories of their long history together. "Elijah I-" her words broke off when he pressed his lips to hers passionately to stop her from speaking words he didn't want to hear spoken. In this one kiss, he poured a thousand years of love for her into it, wishing and willing her to remember when she woke up. After finally pulling away, tears poured from Kyra's eyes, her heart in turmoil while her emotions played within her head. "Elijah. I need you to know, I will _always_ love you. This me, the one you know, loves you with all of her heart. I can wish all I want that this never happened, but it did, and for once, I have no idea what will come. With you. With Damon, and I am so sorry," her voice trembled through her tears.

Tucking the crying fae under his chin, he held her close while comfortingly running his hand over her hair. He felt her pain in his own heart, but he knew for now, there was nothing he could do. "Everything will be as it should be," he whispered into her ear. "Say my name and I will always come running," he pulled back, giving her one last loving smile. Slowly, she began to fade, signally she had begun to wake up.

"No, please, not yet," she cried out. "I'm not ready to lose you!" she sobbed.

Brushing his knuckles across her cheek he chuckled while quoting something promised long ago, "You should know by now, you will _never_ lose me." Holding onto his hand, she pressed one last kiss into his palm before disappearing fully from the realm of the subconscious.

I groaned, feeling around my surroundings. Everything seemed to hurt all over again, voices around me were muffled and hazy. Where was I? Did it work? I had to concentrate through the fog in order to make out the voices and sounds.

"I thought she told you she'd be right behind you?" I could hear Elena ask frantic. Oh no, I didn't mean to worry her. Something must have gone wrong and Bonnie must have called in the brigade.

"She did, she should be awake right now!" a distressed male voice tried to assure both my sister and himself. Who was that? Finally my body let loose a louder groan when I tried to open my eyes.

"Too bright," I whined, attempting to sit up.

"Oh my god Kyra!" Elena wrapped me into an over exuberant hug. That's when the guilt hit. I didn't mean for this to happen.

Looking around me, I could see Bonnie on the couch across from us, Stefan next to a fire place, and standing next to us… Damon! They must have brought me back to the Boarding house. Everything came rushing back like a ton of bricks. The same dream happening over and over, Damon and Elijah appearing, and then… nothing. I couldn't remember anything else. The only thing that I came away with that venture was a memory of blood, death, and pain. I wanted to throw up at the reality of it. Everything that happened in there, with the exception of Damon and Elijah, was real. Hugging my sister back, I couldn't stop crying. My heart felt like it had been torn to shreds, but I knew I had to pull it together, at least until I could get home.

Looking around again, I uttered a strangled apology, "I'm so sorry everyone. I- I didn't know that would happen."

Bonnie gave me a shaky nod, telling me it was okay but I knew from the look on her face she'd scold me later. Taking a deep, but relieved breath, she added, "You're okay now, that's what counts, but we are _never_ doing that again. _Ever._ "

Pulling back from our embrace, Elena wiped away some of her own tears. She still held onto my hand, almost like she was afraid I'd disappear if she let go. I couldn't figure out what to say to the concerned members in the room. I didn't even know where to start.

"Are you? Okay that is," Stefan interjected, his voice a disquieted tone. I nodded briefly, not voicing anything yet.

"So what happened?" Bonnie asked from her spot in the chair across from me, elbows on her knees while she leaned forward attentively.

I took a breath in and asked back, "Well, what happened while I was out?" I looked down to see my clothes caked with crust coagulated blood and only speculated.

"You were fine at first, a little tense sure, but I thought you were getting somewhere," Bonnie replied honestly. "But then, your whole body started to seize up and all of these cuts and wounds appeared on you and I was scared. I thought you were going to die until the gashes healed up like nothing happened. Then it just kept happening over and over, like whatever you were going through was on replay," she explained, her voice shaking at the fresh memory.

I let go of Elena's hand, running my own through my tangled hair. "Yeah, that sounds about right." I thought back onto the events, straining to remember other details. "How were you and Elijah there Damon? I don't remember a lot of it, but I vaguely remember you two."

"Bonnie here worked her witchy magic and sent me in to save your sorry ass," Damon retorted. He walked forward, his stature on edge. "Just what were you even thinking Kyra?!" he shouted at me.

I flinched visibly at his reprimands, getting closer to breaking down again. Elena looked between us and decided to intervene. "I think that's enough for tonight. We should get you home Ky."

"No, we should lock her in a padded room is what we should do," Damon sassed. His worry had morphed into a fury, and it scared the shit out of me. "But knowing her, she'd still find a way to get herself into trouble."

"That's enough, Damon," Stefan stepped in between us. "It's been a long day. You can both stay here if you'd like, or I can take you home. It just might be a little hard to explain all of the blood."

I shook my vigorously. I wanted to go home. I _needed_ to go home. "No, I just… I want to go home," I tried to hide the crack in my voice. There wouldn't be any sleeping for me, but I didn't want to be here. Especially with an angry Damon yelling at me at every chance he got. I kept my face downcast, not wanting to look at anyone. I wasn't sure if it was the shame of getting myself into such a predicament, or if it was to keep them from seeing what haunted me behind my eyes.

The room was mostly silent at my demeanor, even Damon stopped in his ranting. Elena gave me a soft, "Okay." She helped me stand from the couch carefully and lead me to the door, almost like she thought I'd break any second. We paused by Bonnie briefly, Elena probably told her something silently, but I didn't pay attention.

I zoned out the whole way home, just trying not to feel… anything really. I thought I could handle it. I thought I would be able to, no matter what. Now… now I just know what happened, in excruciating detail, but I still don't remember what happened _before_ that. I still don't know my parent's names without thinking back to what Miranda told me when I first got here and asked questions. I don't remember if we had pets, what school was like, if I was in a happy loving home, and I definitely don't remember who Elijah was.

I realized what I felt when we pulled into the driveway: Broken.

"I'll go in first, see if Jenna is still awake and wave you in when it's clear," Elena explained slowly. I nodded, waiting for her to do just that. I trudged up to the porch, waiting for the signal, when a set of headlights shined behind me. I vaguely heard two sets of footsteps, but at that moment I could only focus on one thing at a time.

"Oh my god," I heard Caroline's voice gasp.

I turned to her, the tears forming in my eyes. I didn't want to cry. I didn't want them to see. I'd already cried so much, but it just wouldn't stop. She rushed forward and held me tightly in a hug. I felt her nod toward Bonnie, asking about getting me into the house. With a wave from Elena, Caroline sped me up to Elena's room with minimum effort thanks to her enhanced speed.

"Hey, Ky, sweetie, we're here okay? I'll get your pj's, we'll get you all cleaned up, and we can talk, or not talk. We could watch Friends re-runs if you don't want to talk, that's fine too. Whatever you want to do Kyra," Caroline looked into my eyes, holding onto my shoulders comfortingly.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Hey, you can apologize later, when you don't feel like shit," Care smiled hopefully at me. "We're just not leaving you alone tonight," she added. "And when you're ready-"

"I know Care-Care. When I'm ready, I'll talk about it… Thank you," I attempted a smile that turned into a grimace.

Elena and Bonnie joined us shortly after. Elena pushed me into the bathroom and the girls started setting up places to sleep and hang out for the night. Sleep… that was the last thing I wanted to do. I ran the shower and hopped in, not bothering to take my clothes off yet, I had to attempt to wash the blood out of them anyway. Suffice to say, it didn't work. I going to sink to the bottom of the bathtub in despair, but Elena gave me a time limit before she would come in after me.

I wiped a streak on the mirror to see myself. None of this bothered me before, why now? Why was it getting harder to recognize the person staring back at me? Maybe there was just so much more than my own life I couldn't remember that hit the biggest sore spot. That Original… Elijah. Something in the way he looked at me, with a fondness and longing, told me I _needed_ to remember. He was important somewhere along the line, good or bad, and the fact I didn't remember killed me a little on the inside.

"Deep breaths," I told myself. I finished up my session of self loathing and exited the bathroom, wet messy hair hitting my back as I went.

All three girls perked up the instant I walked into the bed room. Blankets and pillows were strewn everywhere making it look like a classic teenage girl slumber party. Even if the teenage girls were a witch, a doppelganger, a vampire, and a fairy. Right… I'm a fairy… I'll need to pick up a few books on 'Fae' lore when I wasn't having a mental breakdown.

Caroline was the first to bounce up from her position on the floor to grab my wrist and lead me over to their little circle. She had a gentle look on her face before she started her slow prodding. "Okay, you can spill whatever you want to now, or nothing at all, and after we can change subjects to get your mind off everything. Sound good?" she asked carefully.

"Since when did you get so tactful?" I raised a brow at her.

"Since one of my best friends ever needed me to be, now: How are you feeling?" she went on. Bonnie and Elena had been there to see what happened, but they were just as curious leaning in to hear more details.

"Well… I thought that maybe Bon could help me remember stuff, you know, before I was eight," I started. "But something went wrong, and I got stuck reliving this horrible nightmare over and over again. It was like I was in some circle of hell living those moments on replay."

Bonnie cleared her throat uncomfortably. "What happened in there?" she asked, worry underlying in her voice.

I paused. I didn't want to focus too much on the events, and there were some details I don't think I'd ever be completely comfortable telling anyone. Ever. "I… There was… there was a house, I was younger. Then these two men were in my house…" I couldn't continue much more, so I decided to wrap it up before I became a blubbering mess again. "They killed my parents, and then they tried to kill me." I closed my eyes for a moment, but they shot right back open seeing the image of one of those men with his mouth so close to my ear. I _felt_ his breath on my neck just thinking about it. "It felt so real… even when Damon and Elijah showed up."

Elena's face scrunched in confusion. "I know Damon went in after you, but how did Elijah get there?"

I had forgotten to tell her about my encounter with him in my other dream. "To be honest, I don't know. What I do know, is he has a lot more knowledge about me than I feel comfortable with. Without knowing who he is anyway. "

"Kyra, when we first met him, you were terrified of him. That can't be a good sign," Elena stated skeptical of any good motives this mysterious new vampire might possibly have.

I nodded in partial agreement. "At first I was, but now…. It's hard to explain."

Caroline sensed my unease, and immediately went into action. "Right. Now onto part two of tonight! Do you want to start at season one or later?"

I snuggled down into some blankets next to the bed, option for season four. The other girls wouldn't make it past the third episode, but I had a feeling there wasn't much sleep in store for me that night. True enough to my thoughts, all three of them were sound asleep at the end of the fourth episode. I almost drifted off once, but every time I closed my eyes I felt that breath in my ear. I heard those chilling words and grotesque grunts. I felt that cold blade.

Eventually I detangled myself from the girls around me, and opted out for one thing that I knew for a fact would make me feel better. Coffee. Aunt Jenna's meds had her passed out on the couch, so she wouldn't be coherent enough to lecture me about ulcers that I didn't actually have. I waited patiently for my caffeine to brew, glancing over at the clock that read five o'clock in the morning. I really hoped it didn't rain today, I was going to need every bit of sunshine I could get to stay awake.

I grabbed myself a medium sized cup and fixed it with my normal cream and sugars. The house seemed to close in on me in the dark, so I tip toed my way to the porch, making sure the light was on before stepping out into the chill of the morning. I cradled my warm cup to my chest and gazed out into the darkness while sitting on our porch swing. I let one leg dangle precariously over the edge and had the other one tucked under me comfortably.

How does someone get over their past? Time and therapy I'd assume. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly an option at this point. Not to mention I was horrible at talking about my own feelings. Everyone else? Sure I could do that all day. But how would I go about describing these feelings without getting that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that felt so awkward and wrong? It made me feel dirty and disgusted with myself. All of those emotions are irrational, I understand that, but it doesn't stop me from feeling them.

Movement broke me from my thoughts and I wasn't surprised to see Damon standing on the other side of my porch. I didn't say anything to him, fully expecting him to go back into laying into me like earlier.

"I know, I need to get a bell," he joked half heartedly.

I looked deeply into my coffee, silently wishing that it was a guy instead. Coffee never yelled at me, it only enveloped me in warm caffeinated hugs. "How'd you know I'd be awake Damon?" I asked quietly despite myself.

"Who said I knew you'd be awake?" he challenged, trying to keep the mood light. I looked at him from underneath some of my hair curiously. He raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, so I had a feeling you would be," He admitted, taking care to step lightly up the steps to sit down next to me on the swing. He eyed me, trying to reveal his concern but failed miserably. "So you haven't slept yet? At all?"

I shook my head no in response, holding my coffee closer to me. I took a generous sip of my beverage before I replied, "No. Every time I close my eyes… I don't just see it all over again. I can practically _feel_ it again."

He sat there for a moment. His eyes were calculating, but not cold like normal when he was planning something. Damon bit his lip before nodding. "All right, come on, let's go," he stood up, waving me away from the porch.

I scrunched my face at him. "Damon, go where? I can't just leave right now."

"Why not?" he shrugged. "I'll have you back in a couple of hours. If your sister freaks, she can blame me." When I didn't move still, he added, "What are you going to do? Stare into your coffee cup for hours while you're not sleeping?"

I sighed. He was kind of right. I didn't really have anything better to do anyway. I took my cup back inside and hid all evidence that I ever made coffee, to spare me from grief later. Grabbing a sweater, I made my way out the door. "All right. Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," he said mischievously. I wasn't sure if I wanted to trust the twinkle in those blue eyes, but I had nothing to lose at this point. Instead, I gave him my usual eye roll and followed him quietly. At some point he became impatient with me tripping over everything I couldn't see and decided to give me a piggy back ride instead. "Pretty clutzy for a fairy, don't you think?"

I scoffed into his ear. "Well I'm sorry I'm not a creature of the dark, with _night_ vision," I grumbled.

"Yeah, yeah, hold on tight Tink," he sassed me back. I shielded my eyes in his neck while he took off with his super speed.

Soon enough, he slowed down to our destination. I looked around the dark rolling hills, barely starting to light up from the impending sunrise. I noticed a small body of water nearby and I tried to wrack my brain for where we were.

"Where are we Damon?" I questioned curiously.

"This," he started as he put me down, "is where Stefan finished my transition for me." I gazed around as he told me, trying to picture the scene before me. He sighed heavily, turning to me. He looked into my eyes, searching for something. "Listen, I'm not Stefan. I'm not good at these little pep talks, but for you, today, I'm going to at least try."

"Damon, what's going on?"

"This place, this is where my whole life changed. My plans, my life, my _choice_ , just gone. I was lost," he explained, his eyes never leaving mine. "I became obsessed with what I lost, with who I lost that night. I lost over a hundred years to that obsession. I hurt a lot people to get what I want," he paused, running his fingers through a few loose strands over hair over my shoulder.

I thought back to the look on Elena's face when I woke up from my nightmare earlier and I had to turn away from him. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear any more of what he had to say.

The sun started to peak through the trees, light shining over the scenery almost magically. The dew sparkled over spider webs and flowers ready to bloom. For a moment, I felt at peace again. Close to where I was before.

Damon wrapped his arms around my shoulders from behind me, holding me tightly but comfortably. I still bristled some at the contact from behind, unable to help myself momentarily. "The sun is still rises, you're still here, and time doesn't stop," he hugged me a little tighter.

"You know, for not being a broody Stefan, you did pretty good on the pep talk," I cracked a smile.

"Well, you know, insert inspirational quote here," he smirked back at me, pulling away. I turned back into him, thinking over everything that he said. "Just remember. You aren't the same person you were yesterday. You're no longer a defenseless eight year old. You're Kyra, the fairy that can blow a vampire's head off."

I grinned back to him at the last part. He was right. I wasn't eight anymore. I've grown despite everything that's happened to me and will continue to do so. I can grieve and cry over what I lost and what happened all I want, but that won't stop the sun from rising and setting. I have survived this long and will continue to do so. Nothing really changed, my nightmares just are real. There were more important things on the horizon. The future to look forward to and a past to leave behind.

I can do this!


End file.
